Udaipur goes “cashless” but literally this time. 18^th April happened to be Akshay Tritiya or Akha Teej-the day which is considered to be very auspicious for marriages. 600 weddings took place in Udaipur district on this day. ATMs became cashless since almost 70 crore rupees were withdrawn this day from ATMs and banks.

Wednesday saw people moving from one ATM to the other in need of cash. Most of the ATM machines had notices mentioning “No money” which disheartened people. Reportedly 102 major ATMs went completely dry. ICICI, BOB and SBI ATMs had some money in them, rest all others were cashless. By afternoon, cash was filled in some of the ATMs. As per bank officers, 300 crore rupees were made available by Wednesday evening. This was the 3^rd consecutive day when ATMs were constantly being frequented since 18^th April was the big wedding day.

Most of the people demanded 2000 rupee notes due to weddings. As news has it, currency with 2000 rupee denomination has started disappearing from the market. Bankers claim that they had seen extremely few deposits in denominations of 2000 rupee notes. 200 rupee notes are also available now but hardly 40 to 50 ATMs have been filled with this denomination. As per sources, SBI ATMS have the maximum number of 200 rupee notes.

Udaipur city has 42 banks having 150 branches and 233 ATM centres in various parts of city. Udaipur district has around 317 bank branches and more than 350 ATM centres. An ATM machine is generally equipped with the following currency denominations:

Denominations                 Number               Total amount

2000                                       2000                       40 lakhs

500                                         2000                       10 lakhs

200                                         2000                       04 lakhs

100                                         2000                       02 lakhs

Total                                      8000                       56 lakhs

Public has even complained that they tried to withdraw money from ATM but in vain, but even in this situation money was deducted from their account. People even travelled to a distance of 30 kilometres to withdraw money from ATMs. Some people even said that they had to borrow money to fulfil rituals and traditions in wedding. Even jewellers reported that sale went down to a great extent this year. Every year on the occasion of Akshay Tritiya, people buy jewellery but lack of funds made them withdraw from shopping this year.

 media reports