Heavy rush to exchange old notes across city

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, November 11, 2016, DHNS: When bank staff reported for work on Thursday morning, they were staggered by the queues, some a full kilometre long.

It was the first day people could exchange their Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for crisp new ones. Banks across India had remained closed on Wednesday to prepare for the transition.

Two days after the government junked high-denomination notes, customers were on a short fuse.

People waited for hours, and many got mint-fresh notes, but quite a few went back disappointed when the banks ran out of supplies.

Some banks served only those who held accounts with them, and that led to frustration among visitors who had assumed they could go to any bank and resolve their currency woes. (In fact, they can, according to the Reserve Bank of India.)
Arguments broke out between customers and bank employees at several places. “We have limited currency, and must help our customers first,” an employee of South Indian Bank said.

Only in English
The mandatory forms to exchange cash were in English, and proved a hurdle to those who couldn’t write the language.

K Manjula, a domestic help, went to Corporation Bank in Indiranagar early in the day. “I have to be at work by 11.30 am, but looking by the queue, I suspect I won’t make it in time,” she said. She needed money to repay a loan. Unable to read English, she sought help to fill the exchange form.


Similarly, Basavaraj, a daily-wage worker, waited helplessly to catch the attention of bank staff. “I have studied only till Class IV. I only know to sign my name,” he said.
Some banks had assigned staff to help customers who needed help with the forms.

Sorry, no stocks
Where supplies were low, banks were accepting deposits and refusing to exchange notes.

 Turned away from a branch of HDFC Bank, Bala Murali, a software engineer, said, “They say currency will be brought in only in the afternoon.”

The branch did not receive money even in the afternoon and asked its customers to leave their phone numbers so that it could notify them when supplies arrived.
Banks that served all walk-ins, like a branch of Indian Overseas Bank, were out of currency before noon.