With anger and chaos over lengthening queues at banks rising after currency ban imposed by the government, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday tried to soothe tempers, but said it could take two to three weeks for ATMs to function normally.
Jaitley said at a news conference here on Saturday that each ATM will need to be recalibrated to dispense the new notes, and that is why the whole process would take time. He urged people to be patient, citing larger economic benefits from the move to replace old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes with new ones.
Assuring that RBI and banks have enough currency to replace all the withdrawn ones, he said the government is constantly monitoring the massive operation. Jaitley requested people not to rush to the banks to exchange notes and stagger the replacement over the 50-day period provided by the government.
"Technology experts believe it takes approximately two weeks to recalibrate the ATMs. Technicians have to visit all the two lakh ATMs, so it is a long drawn process," Jaitley told reporters, saying he "regretted the inconvenience" to the people. He agreed to ask banks to consider providing separate queues for senior citizens.
"Such a massive currency replacement cannot take place mechanically overnight. It takes time," the FM said. The machines need to be calibrated to the size and weight of new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes. Refuting the charge of mismanagement, he said SBI alone undertook 2.28 crore transactions while queues had been long but orderly.
A finance ministry statement later said a total of over 7 crore transactions took place from November 9 up to mid-day of November 12 for deposit, exchange of old notes and withdrawal from ATMs and over the counter. Old notes of Rs 500 and 1000 denominations amounting to about Rs 2 lakh crore have been deposited with banks.
Jaitley said at a news conference here on Saturday that each ATM will need to be recalibrated to dispense the new notes, and that is why the whole process would take time. He urged people to be patient, citing larger economic benefits from the move to replace old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes with new ones.
Assuring that RBI and banks have enough currency to replace all the withdrawn ones, he said the government is constantly monitoring the massive operation. Jaitley requested people not to rush to the banks to exchange notes and stagger the replacement over the 50-day period provided by the government.
"Technology experts believe it takes approximately two weeks to recalibrate the ATMs. Technicians have to visit all the two lakh ATMs, so it is a long drawn process," Jaitley told reporters, saying he "regretted the inconvenience" to the people. He agreed to ask banks to consider providing separate queues for senior citizens.
"Such a massive currency replacement cannot take place mechanically overnight. It takes time," the FM said. The machines need to be calibrated to the size and weight of new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes. Refuting the charge of mismanagement, he said SBI alone undertook 2.28 crore transactions while queues had been long but orderly.
A finance ministry statement later said a total of over 7 crore transactions took place from November 9 up to mid-day of November 12 for deposit, exchange of old notes and withdrawal from ATMs and over the counter. Old notes of Rs 500 and 1000 denominations amounting to about Rs 2 lakh crore have been deposited with banks.