Cash shortage ‘baffling, normalcy soon’
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 18
The State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday said the availability of cash in its ATMs has improved in the last 24 hours after there were reports of a cash shortage in some parts of the country.
Neeraj Vyas, Chief Operating Officer, SBI, said efforts were being made on a continuous basis to improve the cash availability. The issue of less cash should come to normalcy within the soonest possible time, he added.
Editorial:
The report said that income velocity (of currency with public) has been on a declining trend in FY18, particularly in the second half. This indicates possibly that currency of higher denomination of Rs 2,000 is not getting adequately circulated.
According to the SBI report, though the state-wise or region-wise income velocity is hard to determine, yet its internal estimates suggest that in states like Bihar, Gujarat and southern states, the income velocity is far less than the national average. On the trend of ATM withdrawals, the report said during FY18, these increased by 12.2 per cent in the second half compared to the first half.
Rs 200 notes behind situation?
- SBI Research claims that a part of the reason why the shortage is being felt could be the introduction and acceleration in printing Rs 200 notes
- “This may have altered the demand for smaller denomination notes in a larger way to possibly substitute for the currency of larger denominations,” its report says
- RBI had on Tuesday attributed the shortage to “logistical issues” in both replenishing ATMs and recalibrating those to accommodate Rs 200 notes
