Do you want to stretch out or take a power nap between standing in a queue at an ATM or outside a bank branch?

Just look around to see if there is a District Central Cooperative Bank branch in the vicinity. If you spot one, you may not have to wait long to take that long overdue rest.

With instructions from the top against acceptance of the now invalid Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, cooperative banks are in a peculiar situation. Despite having banking licences, they are exempt from currency recovery operations. In the public’s eyes, they are a step child and lesser beings, of little use to them in this crisis.

There is no queue or rush at the counters of DCCB branches. Yet, there are people waiting to remit a cheque or close a gold loan."I've been a customer for 20-odd years. Though they are not as well connected as Indian Bank, where too, I have an account, I enjoy my visit to this cooperative bank,” said Muthulakshmi, a resident of Madampatti, on the outskirts of Coimbatore.

There is still that personal touch and warmth that old customers crave when they visit a bank branch and which is increasingly absent when they go to commercial bank branches. Citing her experience, she said the cooperative bank staff are very considerate and make kind personal enquiries of customers, both when they come to take a loan and later on closing it. She herself had come to close her gold loan and take back her jewels.

DCCB employees were a bit embarrassed over the RBI's decision to not permit them to exchange the now invalid notes. But customers did not seem to mind. A good number had an alternative account elsewhere.

The quiet interiors in this cooperative bank were a great relief after the jostling crowds and mad rush at the regular 'commercial' b​ank branches throughout the week.

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