We had no prior knowledge of demonetisation move: Bank of India top management

Interview with CEO & MD Melwyn Rego and ED R A Sankara Narayanan

Banks have taken to the task of ensuring a smooth demonitisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on a war footing. Bank of India Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Melwyn Rego and Executive Director R A Sankara Narayanan, in an interaction with Anup Roy discussed how their organisation is dealing with the situation and how it padded up to meet the challenge. Edited excerpts:

How are you motivating your staff to handle this huge event?

Rego: There is a war which has been declared on illegitimate currency. In a war, it starts with planning, and then, execution. In the middle, comes communication. The planning process has been done; the communication process was done at great length by Sankara Narayanan. That, in turn, has percolated to the branch-level. Yes, it will be difficult. But, we will have to put in that much more effort. We have already given instructions to open our branches one hour ahead of the scheduled time and we have not mentioned the closing time. We have said it can be extended till the last customer has been served. So yes, there is a great effort.

Sankara Narayanan: We are well prepared. All the branches have been instructed to deal with customers properly. And, we have requested them to give preference to senior citizens, ladies and children, if they are in the queue. There is a long queue even outside our head office since 7 am. We are very confident we have enough resources. The staff is well motivated to manage the situation.

You said 7 am. What time did your branch open?

Sankara Narayanan: It opened at 10 am. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the people not to panic, because this is not one-day exercise. It will go on till December 30 for the banks and March 31 for the Reserve Bank of India. There’s no need to rush in to exchange the currency notes, unless it is needed urgently. As the ATMs will also start working across the nation, there is no need to panic.

Were you aware about the operation?

Rego: We came to know exactly at the same time when you came to know.

After that, what was the chain of events? How was it communicated to you later on?

Rego: I can only tell you about our chain of events. I was at the RBI at that time. The first call went to Sankara Narayanan. He instructed all the general managers to come to the office immediately. We were here past midnight, planning out what has to be done. The next morning — and in the night itself — we informed the general managers and the zonal managers that we would be have a video conference in the morning. It was a three-hour call where every aspect of the operation was communicated to them, followed by a written communication. The detailed communication went during the video conference call.

Were all the bank chairmen were in RBI that time? Did the central bank call you for any specific purpose?

Rego: They had not called for this purpose. I can’t say all bank chairmen were there because chairmen are spread all across the country. I can’t say if all bank representatives were there.

Are you getting enough currency notes?

Sankara Narayanan: RBI has assured us. We are constantly in touch with the regional office of the RBI, where currency chests are kept. Our currency chests are well-equipped. The immediate reaction would be for the next three or four days. Beyond that, people will understand the requirement and it’s not advisable or wise to convert entire currencies and keep in cash. We have got stock of new Rs 2,000 notes and the RBI has assured that they will replenish us with new Rs 500 notes very soon.