Demonetisation: Companies come to employees' aid amid cash crisis

While some companies are granting leave to staff to visit banks, some others are educating them on the benefits of going cashless

In the days since Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, serpentine queues at ATMs and bank branches have been a common sight. Even after 15 days, there does not seem to be any let-up in the plight of the common man. While the government is encouraging people to increasingly move to cashless transactions, such as those through net banking, e-wallets, debit cards are credit cards, India Inc is also coming up with special schemes to help their employees.

To help meet the cash needs of their employees, companies, such as Infosys, Flipkart, MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Mahindra & Mahindra, Godrej, EY, Vodafone, Ericsson India, Chaayos and Marico have come up with differnet ways — from currency note conversion desks to mobile ATMs and temporary cash withdrawal counters — according to a report by the Economic Times.

 

The ET article said the country's largest e-commerce company Flipkart had tied up with a bank to set up desks at its offices where old notes coulld be swapped for new, in accordance with RBI guidelines. The facility has been used by more than 60% of the employees. “This provision was also availed by office support staff as they would need it the most,” said a Flipkart spokesperson. 

The Godrej Group partnered with ICICI Bank to set up a currency exchange desk at its headquarters in Mumbai. Axis Bank, where several top companies have their salary accounts, said it is organising micro-ATMs for employees of Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Infosys, among other private and public sector companies.

Whereas, some companies directly tied-up with banks for the exchange of currency some granted leave to their employees to go to banks and some organised sessions to educate and create awareness. 

Most of the ATMs on Infosys' campuses have been recalibrated to dispense new notes and software services company has also embarked on a zero-cash model at its food courts said the financial daily. 

Vodafone India is also educating employees about its M-Pesa app, which enables cash withdrawal from select M-Pesa stores, apart from setting up cash withdrawal counters at its premises. Auditing firm Ernst and Young also said that it plans to continue with kiosks and mobile ATMs at periodic intervals across its offices. Telecom company MTS India installed its first on-premises ATM at its corporate office in New Delhi.