In TN, private banks got about 8 times more per branch than PSUs

A few private sector banks appear to be getting a disproportionate share of the new bank notes being released by the central bank since the demonetisation of high-value currency on November 8, the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) has said, citing the example of Tamil Nadu.

From November 8 till about December 7, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is learnt to have released about Rs.14,000 crore of currency notes in Tamil Nadu, the AIBEA said. But close to 44 per cent of that (Rs.6,100 crore) has been distributed to three private banks — ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC bank — that have about 900 branches, while the rest has been disbursed to state-run banks with 9,000 branches.

This works out to an average of Rs.6.7 crore per branch for these three private players in the state, and about Rs.86 lakh per branch for their public sector peers.

“We have written to the central bank governor about this on Friday and asked for a transparent disclosure on how much cash is being received and disbursed to various banks across states on a periodic basis, preferably daily,” C.H. Venkatachalam, general secretary of the AIBEA told The Hindu, adding that he had earlier written to the Finance Minister on the issue as well.

Consumption pattern

“The account base and consumption pattern of different banks and branches is available so it should have been used to allocate cash flows on a pro-rata basis, but many public sector bank branches don’t have enough cash for routine payments despite the restrictions on withdrawals,” Mr. Venkatachalam said, while pointing out that raids across the country are yielding crores of new currency notes.

The employees’ union is seeking a CBI probe into the matter and plans to hold demonstrations in state capitals on Wednesday to highlight the issue which it said is taking a toll on bank staff.

“Many lady staffers and youngsters are thinking of putting in their papers not because of workload, but because they can’t take the abuse from irate customers unable to access even restricted cash limits,” he said.

A strike is being mulled as well, but the union doesn’t want to add fuel to the currency crunch fire yet. It has suggested that cash operations be suspended till currency supply is adequate so that customers know there is nothing bankers can do.

A senior public sector banker said that queues in PSU banks are not ending as customers are unable to withdraw the Rs.24,000 weekly limit in one go.

‘Brickbats only’

“One day, they get Rs.4,000, next day Rs.10,000, so they keep coming back. We get brickbats for this while some private bank customers have been found with crores of new notes which can’t happen without some form of favouritism,” he said, requesting not to be named.

On December 2, the RBI had issued an advisory to banks in charge of currency chests to dispel the perception that they were according priority to their own bank branches. “These banks with currency chests are... advised to make visible efforts to dispel the perception of unequal allocation among other banks and their own branches,” the RBI had said.

“It is an irony that banks whose customers have plastic cards, net and mobile banking and e-wallets received more cash than public sector banks who have a wider customer base that is suffering,” the banker said.