PM Narendra Modi holds late night meeting with senior ministers on demonetisation

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held meeting with senior ministers on demonetisation late on Sunday night.

The meeting at Prime Minister's residence was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, I&B Minister Venkaiah Naidu, Power, Coal and Mines Minister Piyush Goyal and top officials of the Finance ministry.

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, after coming out of the meeting said that PM Modi has reviewed the supply and availability of cash to various banks and post offices.

“PM Modi reviewed the entire position, he was briefed about steps already taken to improve supply of cash, “ Das said.

He also added that the banks have been advised to increase the cash holding limit of the banking correspondents to at least Rs 50,000.

In other cases banks would be encouraged to increase the cash holding limits beyond 50,000 rupees in appropriate cases, he further added.

Stating that the reach and distribution of cash, especially in rural area will improve substantially, he said that banking correspondents will be permitted by banks to draw cash in a single day multiple times.

Among the other decisions taken during the meeting include recalibration of the ATMs to dispense new series of Rs500 and 2000 notes.

To expedite the process soon, a task force is being set up under chairmanship of RBI Deputy Governor which will have representatives of banks as its members, Das said.

It will also have representatives of department of financial services and the ministry of home affairs as their representatives.

This task force has been instructed to work out a strategy to expedite whole process of recalibration of the ATMs.

In the mean time the micro ATMs will be deployed in large number of areas to dispense cash against debit and credit cards, Das further said.

Current account business entities which have operational current account during last 3 months will be permitted to draw Rs 50,000 at a time.

It has been decided that all government departments and central public sector undertakings will maximize their E transactions, Das said.