Tough deposit rules irk bank customers

The city residents fumed at the latest curbs on deposit of old currency notes though queues outside bank branches and ATMs saw a considerable decline.
Tightening rules for depositing old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the Centre had yesterday said individuals can deposit over Rs 5,000 in old currency bills only once until December 30 after explaining the delay.
However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley later said no questions would be asked if any amount of junked currency is deposited in one go, but repeated deposits may raise queries.
A pensioner, T N Mishra, who worked in a textile mill in suburban Kurla, was in a state of shock when his bank, a public sector lender, today refused to accept Rs 40,000 which he wanted to deposit in his account.

Mishra said the money was part of his PF and pension savings.
"This is the saddest day of my life. I do not know what to do with my money as the bank is saying they cannot deposit it (at one go) because the system is not accepting," a distraught Mishra said.

"In the early days of demonetisation, the government had appealed to depositors to show patience as there were 50 days available to deposit their money. When I followed their suggestion and waited, the government tweaked the rules and said people can now deposit over Rs 5,000 only once. This is extremely unfortunate," he said.

Mishra said he yesterday deposited Rs 40,000 and did not anticipate the Centre would amend its rules once again.
Another depositor, Vishwas Pisal, a resident of suburban Kanjurmarg, slammed the government for coming up with new rules almost everyday, saying these norms have made the common man's life miserable.
Pisal said, "Yesterday, I deposited Rs 40,000 in my account. I still have Rs 25,000 more (in defunct notes) left with me and bankers are asking why I did not deposit it till now. This is a blow to me and crores of people like me who are feeling cheated by this latest rule."

Meanwhile, some customers said the cash crunch had eased to a large extent and they were getting to withdraw the permissible amount from their banks.
Ravi Singh, working with a mobile phone store in suburban Santacruz, said, "It seems banks have enough fund as of now. I today withdrew Rs 24,000 (from current account where weekly limit is Rs 50,000). Earlier, we could get only Rs 5,000 or maximum Rs 10,000 for current account."
Long queues outside bank branches and ATMs, a daily sight since November 8 note ban announcement, have reduced considerably in the last couple of days.