ATMs run dry in heart of Hyderabad, bankers say stop hoarding cash

HYDERABAD: Post-demonetisation blues are still plaguing Hyderabad, with ATMs even in the heart of the city running dry. The salaried class is feeling the pinch as most are unable to withdraw the salaries credited to their accounts at the beginning of the month.
Except for those attached to the main bank branches, ATMs in Ranigunj, Secunderabad, Begumpet, Himayatnagar, Narayanguda, Banjara Hills, Champapet and several other localities are failing to dispense cash.“I was able to find one machine that dispensed cash after trying around 25 ATMs in Champapet, Himayatnagar and Naryanaguda,” Dr Pramod Pola, a diabetologist in Himayatnagar, told TOI.
N Suresh, a resident of Ranigunj, was found wandering James Street and MG Road in search of cash. “These days they don’t put up ‘No cash’ boards in ATMs. They are kept open, but the machine says unable to dispense cash at the end.”
Bankers cited salary withdrawals as the reason for the dip in cash balance. “Salaries were available from April3 for all government employees and there were huge withdrawals. Cash is going out, but deposits are less. The problem cannot be solved unless the cycle is reversed. If an ATM has less than Rs 25,000, it will stop dispensing cash. We have been requesting customers not to go for accelerated withdrawals,” J Swaminathan, chief general manager, State Bank of India, Telangana circle told TOI.
The situation is worse in Andhra Pradesh. Dr Mekala Raghu from Kurnool said, “There is no money in the ATMs here. The problem has been persisting for the past two months. Bankers are either failing to respond to their customers or saying they are not getting cash. It looks like that there is not enough money in circulation, but politicians could also be hoarding the currency.”