Banks to accept deposit of more than Rs 5,000 in old notes only once
New Delhi: In a sudden change of rules, the government on Monday said that people can now deposit more than Rs 5,000 demonetised currency only once in their bank accounts till December 30.
This is a sharp contrast to earlier statements from top Central ministers and government officials which in initial days of demonetisation was asking people not to queue up before banks as they have time until December 30 to deposit their old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency.
Moreover, a person who now wishes to deposit over '5,000 demonetised notes in his or her bank account will be grilled by bank officials, as per new direction by RBI.
“The credit in such cases shall be afforded only after questioning tenderer, on record, in the presence of at least two officials of the bank, as to why this could not be deposited earlier and receiving a satisfactory explanation. The explanation should be kept on record to facilitate an audit trail at a later stage,” said RBI.
It said that an appropriate flag also should be raised in central banking a system to that effect so that no more deposit are allowed. “Demonetised currency less than Rs 5000 will be allowed to be credited to bank accounts in the normal course until December 30, 2016.
“However, when cumulative these small deposit breach Rs 5,000 caps, then the further deposit will too be scrutinised by bank officials and no more deposits will be accepted.
“Even when tenders smaller than Rs 5000 are made in an account and such tenders took together on cumulative basis exceed Rs 5000 they may be subject to the procedure to be followed in case of tenders above Rs 5000, with no more tenders being allowed thereafter until December 30, 2016,” said RBI. However, such restrictions will not apply to old notes deposited under the Taxation and Investment Regime for the PMGKY, 2016.
