Currency shortage Surtis forced to pay premium for new notes

  • | Wednesday | 7th November, 2018

Thus, I decided to visit Bhagal where the money exchangers keep the buffer stock of new currency notes for the Diwali festival sale. People are not getting new currency notes in the denomination of Rs 50, Rs 100 and Rs 200 from the ATMs or the banks. If the government directs the banks to give the new notes to the public directly, people will stop coming to us.” They are not a new phenomenon, but the new notes introduced after demonetisation has given their business a new dimension. I had to pay Rs 1,500 extra for the exchange of Rs 2,000 notes worth Rs 10,000.”These vendors could be found at Bhagal sitting on the roadside with a board ‘phateli ane juni notes badli apvama aavse’ (change your soiled and torn notes here).

Surat: With majority of the public and private sector banks in Surat facing acute shortage of new currency notes, residents in the Diamond City have turned to the private note exchangers for the Diwali festival.The note exchangers in the city have been charging premium ranging from Rs 15 to Rs 30 on the value of the currency notes in the denomination of Rs 50, Rs 100 and Rs 200.Sources in the banking sector informed that the currency chests including State Bank of India (SBI) have received 20 per cent allotment of new currency notes ahead of the festival season. Most of the ATMs across the city are unable to dispense currency notes in the lower denomination of Rs 100 and Rs 200 due to the shortage.On Tuesday, majority of the public and private banks were flooded with customers wanting to withdraw cash and that they had to stand in serpentine queues due to the heavy rush.A senior officer of a public sector bank said, “We are unable to satisfy the new currency note demands of our customers due to huge shortfall in the allocation of notes by the RBI. The demand is quite high and we have only 20 per cent allocation in the chest.”Mahendra Ramoliya, a textile businessman said, “I tried getting cash from the bank, but could not stand in the long queue. Thus, I decided to visit Bhagal where the money exchangers keep the buffer stock of new currency notes for the Diwali festival sale. I had to pay Rs 1,500 extra for the exchange of Rs 2,000 notes worth Rs 10,000.”These vendors could be found at Bhagal sitting on the roadside with a board ‘phateli ane juni notes badli apvama aavse’ (change your soiled and torn notes here). They are not a new phenomenon, but the new notes introduced after demonetisation has given their business a new dimension. Some of these vendors carry stacks of new currency notes even as most of the cities have not yet seen the notes of Rs 50, Rs 100 or Rs 200.There are many who are willing to shell out extra money to these vendors just to get the new notes.Rakeshbhai (notes vendor) at Bhagal said, “We are not doing black marketing of notes, but we make them available to the people at premium rate. People are not getting new currency notes in the denomination of Rs 50, Rs 100 and Rs 200 from the ATMs or the banks. If the government directs the banks to give the new notes to the public directly, people will stop coming to us.”

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