After 2 day closure, ATMs across Mumbai to open ‘late’

After a 48 hour closure, following the demonetization of Rs 500 & 1000 notes, ATMs throughout Mumbai are expected to open after a few hours delay on Friday.

ATMs across the city were cashed out immediately after PM Narendra Modi announced the discontinuation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes from midnight on Tuesday. The strategic move was aimed to counter corruption and black money in the country.

Further, banks were instructed to keep ATMs closed on November 9 and 10, to ensure that the machines were able to dispense new currency when they finally reopen on November 11.

However, considering the fact that almost all ATMs across the city need to be refilled with newer currency and notes of smaller denominations, most are expected to open anywhere between 12 to 2 pm.

A handful ATMs in South Bombay, Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and Navi Mumbai have already opened. But all of them witnessed long queues and are expected to run out of cash fairly quickly.

On the plus side, the queues outside banks have reduced considerably today compared to Thursday. It should allow those who were unable to deposit or exchange old notes earlier to do so today.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank also issued an order instructing all the banks to stay open for business on Saturday and Sunday and treat them as ‘regular working days’.