BJP says 'I told you so' as RBI lifts ATM withdrawal limits

Chennai, (Tamil Nadu), [India], Jan. 31 (ANI): With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifting restrictions on daily withdrawal from ATMs starting February 1, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said it had maintained right from the inception of demonetisation, that the situation across the nation would normalise soon. "We were already saying that after demonetization, in a few days or a few weeks, the situation will get normal. But everybody was making speculations about it. We have to thank Prime Minister Modi for this necessary move," Tamil Nadu BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan told ANI. She added that now the bank transactions are also being carried out smoothly and moreover the corruption is curtailed post demonetisation. In a major relief to people, RBI yesterday announced lifting of restrictions on daily withdrawal of money from ATMs with effect from Wednesday and has also withdrawn all limits on Current Accounts and overdraft accounts with immediate effect. In a circular to the banks, the RBI, however, said the weekly limits of 24 thousand rupees on Savings Bank accounts will continue. It said, it is also considering withdrawing this limit in the near future. The RBI urged all banks to encourage their constituents to sustain the movement towards digitisation of payments and switching over of payments from cash to non-cash mode. Government and RBI had imposed limits on withdrawal of money from ATMs and bank branches in view of currency shortage post- demonetisation. These limits, however, were gradually eased with RBI pumping in new notes of 500 and 2000 rupees. Prime Minister Modi on November 8 in a televised address to the nation declared the ban on Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes as part of the government's efforts to crackdown on black money. Due to the demonetization scheme, people had to wait in long queues outside cash deposit machine counters, ATMs and banks across various cities in the entire nation. Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram had said that the move has weakened the Indian economy and "inflicted misery" on millions of people. (ANI)