ATMs in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh; run out of cash; Maharashtra, Kerala to the rescue

Cash crunch has hit the southern states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as people here are not able to withdraw their money as ATMs have run dry. The situation has forced these states to ship cash from Maharashtra and Kerala, said a Times of India report. The cash situation in these southern states deteriorated over the past two months and this reportedly forced banks to get the cash from Maharashtra and Kerala for Telangana and for Andhra Pradesh.

SBI alone has 2,200 ATMs in these two states, of which 1,500 are operated and maintained by the bank, and 700 are maintained by third parties with the cash being supplied by SBI. However, only 1,400 to 1,500 of its ATMs are operational, said the report.

Besides, the states are facing paucity of Rs 2,000 denomination currency notes, the report said.

“With the approval of RBI we moved cash from Maharashtra and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala to Hyderabad to tackle the situation of accelerated withdrawals from ATMs and bank branches in January and February, but did not do so in March. We usually try to ensure that cash is available in ATMs at least 94 per cent of the time. Post demonetisation, following the cash crunch, we had taken several measures to ensure that ATMs had cash available for at least 85 per cent of the time but in January 2018, this came down to 70 per cent and is now hovering around 60 per cent,” State Bank of India’s (SBI) Hyderabad circle chief general manager Swaminathan J told the newspaper.

Swaminathan further told TOI, “There are no deposits of Rs 2,000 notes by customers, and we have the least reserves of Rs 2,000 currency notes,” adding that Reserve Bank of India is primarily supplying Rs 200 and Rs 500 denomination notes.

It may be noted that banks would remain on holiday on March 29 and March 30, on account of Mahavir Jayanti and Good Friday, but will work on Saturday. On April 2, banks will observe an annual closing as the new fiscal would start. 

Since the banks would remained closed, there is a possibility that ATM customers may face more trouble.