ATMs were not recalibrated to maintain secrecy of the scheme, says Arun Jaitley on demonetisation
The finance minister said it was natural the scheme would cause inconvenience in the first few days.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said that it was natural that there would be long queues at banks in first few days of the “massive operation” that is the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Even as reports came in from around the country of severe distress because of the cash crunch, Jaitley said people had been very patient. Jaitley asked people to visit the banks at a later date to “avoid standing in queues”, noting that the scheme to exchange money is valid till December 31.
Jaitley said the 2.5 lakh ATMs in the country had not been recalibrated to accommodate the new notes to maintain the secrecy of the operation. He said it would take two or three weeks to recalibrate all the ATMs in the country. He urged people to use electronic modes to carry out their transactions, such as cheques, cards and payment gateways. The government is monitoring the currency replacement process, he said.
Jaitley said so far, cash worth Rs 47,868 crore has been deposited at banks around the country. The State Bank of India, which accounts for 20%-25% of total banking operations in India, had itself carried out 2 crore 58 lakh transactions so far. He added that 33 lakh people have withdrawn money so far.
He dismissed concerns that the cash crunch was hurting wholesale dealers, tea plantations and other industries where workers are paid in cash. He said that workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme were now getting money in their bank accounts, and so there was no reason for other industries to start creating white money operations.
He also said the reactions to the move – it has been widely criticised by Opposition parties – was irresponsible. He also asked people to be wary of rumours that have been creating panic, such as suggestions that the price of salt has shot up since the government demonetised the notes. He also alluded to Arvind Kejriwal’s statement that people close to Narendra Modi knew of the move, calling this an instance of people “taking liberties with the truth”.