All cash withdrawal limits to be lifted from March 13: RBI

In a good news for citizens, the Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday decided to increase withdrawal limit from saving accounts to Rs 50,000 from February 20, and remove limits on cash withdrawals altogether from March 13.

The plan to phase out the post-demonetisation limits will start from February 20, when the limit on withdrawals from savings accounts will be increased to Rs 50,000 from the existing Rs 24,000.

Earlier, on February 1, the RBI removed the limits on withdrawals from current accounts and ATMs, but continued to cap the withdrawals from savings bank accounts to Rs 24,000.

From March 13, all limits on cash withdrawals from saving accounts will be lifted, Deputy Governor of RBI, R Gandhi, said at a press conference following the RBI meet today.

Following the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes on November 8, the government had placed limits on cash withdrawals in a bid to weed out black money.

The move had left millions of Indians cash-strapped and severely impacted business over the next few weeks. The limits were subsequently relaxed after the RBI was able to print and introduce new notes into circulation.

According to RBI, over Rs 9.92 lakh crore worth of currency was in circulation as on January 27, 2017.

The newly introduced Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes are also more difficult to copy. “The ones being found fake are photocopied and not printed versions of new notes,” the central bank said.

The decision to remove all withdrawal limits will be welcomed by all as it would mark the end of the ‘demonetisation effect’.

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