Cash influx fails to ease payday worries

An ATM without cash in Ranchi on Tuesday. (Hardeep Singh)

TT, Ranchi/Jamshedpur, Nov. 29: Cash worth Rs 320 crore is said to have reached capital Ranchi today, but officials aren't ruling out inconveniences to the public on payday since the money received is but a fraction of the amount the state requires to disburse salaries across Jharkhand.

Additional chief secretary of finance Amit Khare, who is monitoring banking affairs across the state ever since the demonetisation drive was announced on November 8, said they were still consulting RBI to ascertain how much additional funds would be required for disbursal of salaries and pensions from December 1.

"It is tough to exactly calculate. But having said that, around Rs 320 crore reached the state capital today and it is in the process of being disbursed to chests of various banks," Khare said.

As per a rough estimate put out by RBI officials yesterday, the state would require anywhere between Rs 2,000 crore and Rs 2,500 crore for payday, ie December 1.

"Additional cash shall be brought in," said Khare. "But we are hoping the deficit would be managed to a large extent through remittances in the form of various taxes like sales tax, corporate tax coming into banks. Payment of taxes will also be coinciding with salary dates," he explained, adding that slight inconvenience for customers in the next few days could not be ruled out.

On ATMs still not being able to dispense notes of Rs 100, Khare said the problem was due to old stocks. "The stocks which are coming in at the moment, mainly of Rs 100 notes, aren't in good condition to stack in ATMs. They aren't fresh, as a result there is a threat of them tearing in ATMs," he said.

In Ranchi, the queues at banks were manageable through the day today, but there was confusion around ATMs. Supply of cash was intermittent leading to massive queues whenever word spread that cash had been put in. As soon as one ATM ran dry, the crowds dissipated to other ATMs.

Bank officials in Jamshedpur looked upbeat as they had been told that cash was being sent from Ranchi.

"New currency from RBI-Patna has reached Ranchi," said Patric Barla, GM of RBI in Ranchi. "Some have been sent to Jamshedpur and would be reaching either on Tuesday or on Wednesday. The new lot has adequate amounts of various denominations (Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 2,000) to tide over the immediate crisis," he added, referring to the challenge of paying salaries.