Banks to use indelible ink to prevent people from making multiple withdrawals
Representational Image. Courtesy: India TV
The government has directed banks to start using indelible ink, like the one used during elections, in a bid to prevent the same people from making multiple cash withdrawals or exchanges from bank counters.
Earlier today, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das told the media that Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a second review meeting on demonetisation with officials of the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ascertain why banks continued to witness long queues.
One of the primary reasons for the long queues, was the repetition of people who were visiting one bank after the other.
“It was found that in many places same set of people are visiting to get cash. They are going from one branch to another branch. As a result, the benefit of withdrawal was getting restricted to a few people,” Das said.
“To prevent this, indelible ink marks will be used, like in elections, at the cash counters,” he said, adding that people were likely trying to convert their black money into white by going to different banks branches several times over in a day.
“Operating instructions will be issued to banks on how to use indelible ink. From today, this process will start in all major cities.”
At the moment, the daily withdrawal limit from ATMs is Rs 2,500, and exchange of old notes from bank counters is Rs 4,500. This apart, the upper limit for weekly withdrawal from bank accounts stands at Rs 24,000.
Meanwhile, the government has also asked vendors providing essential services to continue accepting old notes till November 24.
