Urging the public not to be anxious about the availability of currency notes, the Reserve Bank of India on Sunday emphasized that they should not visit the bank branches repeatedly to draw and hoard cash.

Cash, according to the central bank, is available when the public needs it.

Reserve Bank assured members of the public that enough cash in small denominations is also available at the Reserve Bank and banks.

The RBI statement comes in view of the harried pubic queuing up in large numbers at bank branches and ATMs over the last four days to exchange/ draw cash following the Government demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1000 bank notes with effect from November 9.

In the backdrop of inconvenience being faced by the public as a result of the withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes from circulation, the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) said banks are making all out efforts to ensure that the currency requirements of customers and public at large are met within the limits prescribed by the RBI.

In the last three days of working, the Association, in a statement, said nearly Rs 30,000 crores cash has been disbursed in currency notes of lower denominations and newly introduced Rs 2,000 notes. The ATMs are being recalibrated to handle new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 denomination notes.

Rajeev Rishi, Chairman, said IBA would, nonetheless, appeal to the public to also use alternate service delivery channels being offered by banks like debit cards and credit cards for making payments.

In addition, payments could be made through electronic channels such as Real Time Gross Settlement, National Electronic Funds Transfer, Immediate Payments Service, net banking, Unified Payments Interface. Electronic wallets provided by banks may also be used extensively for making payments.

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