It will take a couple of days for Mumbai to limp back to normal. As people made a beeline to rid themselves of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denomination notes, the currency woes of the aam aadmi continue to linger.
Huge queues were noticeable outside HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Vijaya Bank and Central Bank of India on Friday morning -- mainly in Boribunder, Fort, Excelsior and CST/VT area branches of these banks.
The demonetization shocks were most felt at Fort and CST areas of India's commercial capital, which arguably has the highest concentration of bank branches and ATMs.
The branch manager of HDFC's Fort branch was seen stepping out of his cubicle to interact with customers in the queue. There is panic in the minds of people, he said, “But, people are trying to gauge the logic behind the government's move, so there is no chaos."
The senior officer told THE WEEK that the ATM machines would start functioning optimally by late Friday evening.
An ICICI Fort branch investment banking official told THE WEEK that the fact that the banks would remain open the whole of this week might ease “the situation on the ground as faced by the common man.” She said that once the ATM machines were operational, the common man would get a breather of sorts as they won't have to rush to the banking counters to deposit “redundant cash notes” or withdraw money.
The challenge now is to get the ATMs to function and run optimally, thus ensuring that they dispense the new currency notes to the people at large.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the decision to demonetize currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations last Tuesday in a late evening address. The PM said that the two denomination notes would cease to be legal tenders beginning Tuesday midnight.