Long queues were noticed in bank branches which reopened on Thursday after being closed on Wednesday following the demonitisation exercise. According to bankers, operations of branches went smoothly though there was a five-fold increase in customers. Most branches had extended working hours so that customers had more time to exchange or deposit their existing Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.
“There were long queues in the branches but there was no panic,” said a chief executive of a public sector bank. Senior officials of banks visited several branches to ensure smooth operations.
Bankers said in some large branches more than 70 per cent of the customers came for depositing existing series of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 of currencies which were now invalid. “Only about 30 per cent customers came for exchanging currencies,” said another bank official.
