Twitter reactions: India faces cash crunch as ATMs run dry

Over the past few months, the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have reported the issue of a cash crunch as most of the ATMs went dry. Now, similar issues are being increasingly reported from states across the country.

Many people are venting out their frustration and criticising the authorities for “bringing back” the post-demonetization days.

Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, however, said that more than adequate currency is in circulation. “Have reviewed the currency situation in the country. Over all there is more than adequate currency in circulation and also available with the Banks. The temporary shortage caused by ‘sudden and unusual increase’ in some areas is being tackled quickly,” the minister tweeted.

“We have cash currency of Rs 1,25,000 crore right now. There is one problem that some states have less currency and others have more. A panel has been formed and the matter will be fixed in three days,” said SP Shukla, Mos Finance.

Telangana IT Minister, K. T. Rama Rao, in response to Mr. Jaitley’s tweet said, “Sir, with due respect the cash shortage in Banks & ATMs is neither sudden nor temporary. I’ve been hearing complaints for over 3 months repeatedly in Hyderabad Pls have RBI & Fin Min team dig deeper & not brush away an issue that is eroding people’s confidence in banking system.”

Several netizens took to Twitter and expressed their disappointment over the issue. “ATMs are running out of cash. I got 5 empty ATMs before finding the 6th one with cash and it was inside a bank. This is Bangalore. Totally terrible situation!” tweeted a user.

The hashtags #Cashcrunch and #ATMs are currently trending in India, and here’s what a few other people had to say on the issue of cash crunch.