New Delhi, February 3: Almost three months after demonetisation was implemented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to lift ATM cash withdrawal limits from savings accounts, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das on Friday said to news agency PTI.
Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das was quoted by PTI where he said that the RBI will soon take a call on lifting the weekly cash withdrawal limit of Rs 24,000 from the savings account. On November 8, almost three months ago, PM Modi surprised the nation by introducing demonetisation, since then the country is facing a severe cash crunch.
On January 31, the RBI lifted curbs on branch withdrawals from current, cash credit and overdraft accounts. The RBI also announced that from February 1, people across India would be allowed to withdraw Rs 24,000 from ATMs (from the savings account) in one go. But the RBI kept the weekly limit for such accounts unchanged.
According to Das, few people across India withdraw Rs 1 per month, which means effectively and practically there is no restriction. Das said, “I think the process of remonetisation is near-complete. I am using the word near0-complete because this Rs 24,000 limit is there”.
In a surprising move, the Union Government declared Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes as an illegal tender, that sucked out 86 per cent of the cash currency in circulation, sparking a severe cash crunch and panic among billions of Indians.
On the same day the limits on cash withdrawals were imposed after the scrapping of high-value currency. After a certain period of time, these limits were gradually eased with the RBI pumping in new notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000.
Earlier there were reports that the government might allow people to withdraw their weekly limit of Rs 24,000 in a single ATM transaction, as the cash crunch situation across India showed signs of easing almost three months after the demonetisation exercise.