Banks to operate this weekend: RBI

The banks were earlier ordered to remain closed on November 9. The banks will open from today to help people exchange Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that have been declared invalid.

The banks have geared up to face the challenge of dealing with customers who are expected to come in hordes on November 10 for exchange of money. Anticipating panic and heavy rush at bank branches, banks in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh have sought deployment of police at branches in order to avoid any law and order problem. 

Even as banks asserted that there was no need to panic, they said additional counters will be set up at branch levels to facilitate customers. “We will be setting up two counters at each branch in our zone for exchange of cash,” said a senior officer of Central Bank of India. 

With the setting up of additional counters, banks will also be sending extra staff to branch levels so that customers should not face any harassment. 

With banks anticipating that ATMs might go empty early for some days, they have also decided that frequency of refilling cash dispensing machines will be enhanced so that customers could get cash as per their requirements. “We shall also enhance the frequency of refilling the ATMs,” said an SBI official. 

Withdrawal limitations — Rs 2,000 a day from the ATM per card and Rs 10,000 through a bank account on a day and Rs 20,000 in a week, will continue for sometime, he said. “As and when more currency comes into banking system, there will be a rethink on those limitations.” It is, however, not clear whether post offices would be open or not on the weekend. There are about 1.25 lakh post offices across the country. At the same time, the government and RBI are yet to take a call on keeping banks open on Monday, November 14, which is a holiday. There are about 149 scheduled commercial banks, including 56 regional rural banks, with a branch network of about 1.30 lakh across the country.