Gurgaon: Wedding queues disappear after stringent RBI norms

The central bank’s latest directive on withdrawal of ₹2.5 lakh for weddings has dampened the spirit of most families who were planning to avail of the facility and manage the cash crunch.

The central bank’s latest directive on withdrawal of ₹2.5 lakh for weddings has dampened the spirit of most families who were planning to avail of the facility and manage the cash crunch. Not a single customer with a wedding invitation card was spotted from morning till late afternoon at different bank branches in sectors 22, 23, and 14 and the main branch of SBI on Mehrauli Gurgaon road on Wednesday.

People queue up outside the Standard Chartered bank ATM at DLF phase 4, Galleria Market, on Wednesday. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Prior to the new directives, the SBI main branch had dispensed cash for 13 families with weddings planned.

In the norms notified on Monday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the cash withdrawn should be used only to pay those people who do not have bank accounts and the names of such recipients should be mentioned while a person applies for withdrawal of the cash.

“The new conditions put forth make the scheme useless. It is impossible to get advance receipts from vegetable shops, milk suppliers, and musical bands,” Daleep Yadav of Kherki Daula said. The situation is particularly difficult in rural areas where all transactions are based on cash.

Sultanpur village has around 20 marriages scheduled till the end of December. “Tell me who in this village or in Gurgaon will give declaration that he does not have a bank account as required by the RBI? Listing details of payment to be made in future is another joke,” Amit Chouhan says while paying a caterer for a wedding held a month back.

Families who withdrew cash prior to November 8 say all that cash is now useless as most of it is in the scrapped currency.

The bankers are also confounded by the rules. “My son is getting married today (Wednesday) and I am facing a cash crunch but things will improve,” RP Sharma, regional manager, Sarv Haryana Grameen Bank, Gurgaon, said. Sharma did no use the wedding limit of ₹2.5 lakh and preferred to withdraw cash through cheque.

Satish Parnami, branch manager, OBC bank, Sector 14, said a single applicant did not come to him for withdrawal of money for wedding today (Wednesday). “If someone fulfils the criteria, we will send the proposal to the credit team in Rohtak that has to approve the dispensation,” Parnami said.