Almost 3 years after India's brute demonetisation, cash is still king
Jul 30, 2019
Despite the government's efforts to gear India into cashless-ness, demand for banknotes prevails.
MUMBAI: Indian consumers appear to show zero loss of appetite for cash despite New Delhi’s numerous efforts to wean them away from currency notes and get them to transact digitally.
Indians are still withdrawing money from ATMs, or automated cash dispensers, and the demand for currency notes has only increased since demonetisation, going by the latest data on ATM replenishment and cash in circulation.
Currency in circulation in India in the fortnight to July 5 was Rs 21.1 lakh.
“Typically, we have noticed that states with high migrant density and low literacy rates see higher cash demands,”
In June, Uttar Pradesh ATMs saw the highest cash replenishments, closely followed by Odisha, Karnataka, New Delhi and West Bengal, data from ATMs managed by CMS Info showed. On average, an Uttar Pradesh ATM in this month saw cash demand of Rs 1.36 crore against Rs 1 crore in April 2015 — meaning growth of over 30% since the predemonetisation period.
Similarly, in Odisha and West Bengal, the latest average ATM cash demands were at Rs 1.35 crore and Rs 1.32 crore, respectively, in June...