Rs 1.20 lakh crore deposited in SBI: Arundhati Bhattacharya

The amount has been deposited during the last 15 days after demonetisation of high denomination notes

SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya on Wednesday claimed that nearly Rs 1.20 lakh crore has been deposited during the last 15 days after demonetisation of high denomination notes.

Replying to a specific question on the impact of demonetisation on the bank's performance, Bhattacharya told reporters tonight at the city airport that about Rs 1.20 lakh crore has been deposited by the public during the 15 days.

Asked about the performance during this quarter, in view of this sudden surge of deposits, she said the performance will be better and the bank would be doing good business, since one-third of the total amount deposited after demonetisation was in SBI.

About the problem of availability of Rs 100 and Rs 500 notes, Bhattacharya said as far as Rs 100 notes were concerned, there were a lot of currencies available. However, people are not not keen on spending and are bothered about exchange and depositing high value currency, she claimed.

"Yes, lack of Rs 500 notes has been an issue. However, with supply being strengthened by RBI, the problem will be solved in a few days. We are going to put the 500 notes in all our recalibrated ATMs so that the people can utilise it," she said.

Asked about reports of loan waiver to Vijay Mallya, Bhattacharya said time and again the bank has come out with clarification. Technical and physical write-off is not waiver and the bank was doubling efforts to recover all dues and not reducing the efforts."Those who are alleging, is doing with an intention of creating mischief," she said.