The government on Monday announced a series of steps to increase supply of cash in the economy and said there was no need for panic among public as adequate cash was being made available. The government has increased the cash holding limit for 1.2 lakh banking correspondents (BCs) to Rs 50,000, while giving and banks flexibility to increase this limit on case to case basis. It has been also decided to provide cash multiple times to the BCs, to effectively serve population in the rural economy. WATCH VIDEO: PM Modi Reveals How He Planned Demonetisation Gradually In 10 Months Supply of cash to 1.3 lakh branch post offices would be enhanced. Together, these 2.5 lakh delivery points, mostly in rural areas, would be able to give bigger quantum of cash to the public. To help small traders meet their business requirements, the government has decided to increase the cash withdrawal limit to Rs 50,000 per week for small businesses. This can be done in a single transaction or multiple transactions. “Considering the cash availability, (for) the business entity having current account for past three months, the limit has been increased to Rs 50,000 per week to pay wages and meet sundry expenses,” economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das said. These decisions to increase cash supply were taken after the situation was reviewed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last night in a high-level meeting that was attended by the home minister, finance minister, minister of coal and power, among others. The meeting was also attended by RBI Governor Urjit Patel and top finance ministry officials. WATCH VIDEO: India Queues Up Outside ATMs Briefing reporters on the decisions taken in the meeting, Das stressed that “enough cash is available with the RBI and there is absolutely no reason for the members of the public to feel any kind of panic and the supply of various networks will be improved in days to come.” To increase availability via ATMs, the government has set up a task force under Deputy Governor SS Mundra to oversee the recalibration of ATM machines after the government introduced new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes. A large number of micro-ATMs will be deployed to help people withdraw cash through debit cards. As far as government departments and Central PSUs are concerned, they have been advised to carry out all payments online and resort to cash withdrawal only in totally unavoidable situations, he said. Banks are also being advised to waive transaction charges on electronic payments till December 31. The government had on Sunday extended use of old defunct Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for paying household utility bills, fuel, taxes and fees and purchases from co-operative stores till November 24. The earlier deadline was November 14 mid-night. WATCH VIDEO: Demonetisation: Arvind Kejriwal, Kapil Sibal, Akhilesh Yadav Slam Modi Govt To reduce hardship, banks have been advised to make arrangements for separate queues for senior citizens and physically handicapped. Separate queues will also be arranged for exchange of cash and transactions against bank accounts. Within three four days, the banking system has handled about 18 crore transactions. With regard to tax implications, Das said cash deposit up to Rs 2.5 lakh would not be looked into but higher deposits would be examined by the authorities. The government also waived parking charges at airports across country till the midnight of November 21 to facilitate smooth movement of passengers. There are 75 operational airports including six run under joint ventures between Airports Authority of India and private companies. ‘RBI move to adversely impact cooperative sector’ Thiruvananthapuram, November 14 The CPI (M) government in Kerala on Monday said the RBI decision not to allow the co-operative banks to offer the exchange facility of scrapped currencies would adversely impact the fortunes of the cooperative sector. Earlier in the day, the Reserve Bank, in a statement, had said no exchange facility against the specified notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 or deposit of such notes should be entertained by the district cooperative banks. State Cooperative Minister A C Moitheen said the Union Government stand would spell a major crisis in the cooperative sector. He said state would approach the RBI again and expected that it would change its present stand towards the cooperative sector. When the Union government had announced demonetisation last week, the Kerala government has allowed the cooperative banks to accept the scrapped currencies as deposits from customers who meet the KYC norms. Several cooperative banks had used this as an opportunity to get the black money diverted into their kitty.
