With just five days to go for the 50-day deadline declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for easing cash withdrawal limits after demonetisation, experts forecast that the current restrictions on cash withdrawal will continue for a longer period.
At present, there is a weekly limit of Rs 24,000 in case of manual withdrawals from banks, and a daily cap of Rs 2,500 for withdrawals from ATMs.
According to the government, the decision to review the current limits will be taken only after December 30.
“There will be a review which will be done after December 30 and whatever steps are required to be taken to bring things back to normalcy, I think they will be decided only after this review is complete,” Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa said.
“Going forward as the period of December 30 ends, a very calm assessment has to be made on what kind of impact has happened,” he added.
According to reports, there is a “growing consensus among bankers that the restrictions on withdrawal would have to continue even in the New Year so as to maintain orderly working at the banks”.
"Most of us think that the withdrawal limit would not be completely withdrawn. It is a possibility that it could be relaxed if the cash situation improves," a senior public sector bank official told PTI.
Even SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya has signalled that the current restrictions cannot be withdrawn fully.
“In all likelihood, the restriction on withdrawal would continue for some more time in the best interest of banks as well as customers at large,” All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) General Secretary Harvinder Singh has also said.
A Credit Suisse report released in November said, “It is possible that the circulation normalises before January 2017 but for that the presses would need to operate at more than 150 per cent capacity utilisation, which might be physically improbable."
An ICICI securities estimate said that normalcy might not be restored till March 2017.