NEW DELHI:
People flood banks and post offices to exchange ol
d notes for new; more government-related centres to accept scrapped notes; banks do away with ATM withdrawal charges till year end.
It was heav
y rush outside most banks across the country on Thursday. People were seen waiting outside many banks as early as 6 a.m. to exchange the now defunct Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes, deposit them in their accounts and withdraw money.
The Income Tax department, for its part, conducted multiple raids in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities in the wake of reports of alleged profiteering and subsequent tax evasion by converting withdrawn currency notes in an illegal manner. The government demonetised the two currency as part of its efforts to tackle the triple menace of black money, fake currency and terror financing.
There are about 149 scheduled commercial banks, including 56 regional rural banks, with a branch network of about 1.30 lakh across the country. Besides, the co-operative banks have also been asked to take deposit and exchange the old notes with new ones.
Old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes would be accepted for payment of fees, charges, taxes and penalties to Central and State governments, including municipalities and local bodies, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said. Huge crowds and long queues were seen before bank branches across Kerala from early morning, with people, mostly salary earners, jostling with each other to get their Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 denomination notes exchanged with new notes.
Banks have opened several additional counters to facilitate smooth exchange of notes. However, the demand was so high that at many branches, the bank branches could only issue tokens in exchange for currency notes surrendered by customers, with the promise that new notes would be given to them by afternoon.
