There has been a flurry of articles on what
re-monetization means for India and Indians, but not enough mention of the
tremendous role played by those people whose life has been doubly affected by
this war on Black Money - the Banks and the Bankers that India is banking upon
and rightly so. These toiling, unsung professionals have risen to the occasion
and how. This piece, based on my interaction with bankers , online and on
ground, is written with them at the center, as a brief testimony of their
tireless, travails handling (somewhat) tiresome customers seeking efficiency,
speed, patience, special treatment and notes in their desired denominations,
all in one go.
India needs to comprehend and assimilate that
no bank has surplus staff for this mammoth exercise that demands work on a war
footing. A lot is being expected from bankers whose core competence is very
different. Banks are working hard despite not being adequately equipped to
handle the exponential increase in footfalls! Employees, who have earlier never
handled cash or worked in customer servicing, are being co-opted to chip
in. We need to realize that even as
banks and bankers work hard to serve people, Re/Demonetization related work is
not the only thing they do. Regular banking transactions (RTGS/NEFT, locker
operations, cheque book, debit cards issuance requests, among others) are on at
full steam, as well. So when employees chip in to help in reducing the workload
at the front desk, their own work increases manifold. Despite this, they are
going beyond the call of duty - managing queues, arranging chairs and even
organizing refreshments.
Amidst the din of expectant, argumentative
citizens, who believe that bankers have cash for themselves, exceptions apart, every
withdrawal is generally overseen by cameras. Currency numbers get captured in
the system and a note is made of every note! Managers have to give an account
of all the money collected. This means that they cannot just give away cash to
anyone. Cash needs to be reconciled at the end of the day and any discrepancy
in the tally means that the balance has to be borne by the individual! No
wonder, many Tellers have been going home late for the last so many days, only
to come back again in the morning for yet another long haul. On top of it, they
are as inconvenienced as the next person, for, they are subject to the same
limits on withdrawal and exchange as anyone else.
Indians lamenting the loss of old notes need
to note that it is only the undeclared black money that will go waste. A crude
analogy would be to liken money to a cheque issued by the Government. Even if
the cheque were to be burnt, the money won’t vanish! If the Government issues a
cheque and no-one presents it, the money remains there and has an overall value
even if it is not with anyone, anymore! So, the Government will actually save
on the notes that do not come back into the banking system.
Thanks to the panic pranksters on TV, most of
India knows that many of our existing ATMs are unable to handle the new Rs 2000
note! The Rs 100 notes that they can handle, are not available in plenty.
Hence, the fast emptying, half-filled ATMs. Panic withdrawals by citizens,
fueled by self-serving, illogical, fact-free media narrative, is adding to our
own woes. But, recalibration of ATMs was done at breakneck speed to break this
vicious cycle.
Indians ought to be wary of reporters and their
tutored “interviewees” armed with a script! One such propped up interviewee who
had to simply parrot, “Shaadi hai ghar mei. Mei Gareeb Hoon. Mera Kya Hoga”,
was so delirious with joy, at her maiden performance, that she could not get
the ‘right expression’. When the needless inconvenience caused by this jamboree
made the Cluster head of a Bank politely request the reporter to go to a
neighbouring bank , he was told that the shorter queue there did not make for a
good story!
All Indians played an important role in the
seamless implementation of this change.
Before getting carried away by rumors of staff conniving in cash
exchange and blaming all Bank staff, we might want to ponder on the fact that
even if some banker is involved in such practices, how will he or she exchange
the currency! With everything out in the
open, there is hardly any scope for any out of turn favors! Bankers found
indulging in such instances, here or there, are being booked and made an
example of.
While we keep asking all sorts of questions
of Bankers, we might want to ask pointed questions to those coming with wads of
idle cash for deposition and seeking preferential treatment. It is true that
while most customers are patient and cooperative, there are some who created
issues, especially the ones in a hurry - the VIPs who create a scene on account
of their sense of entitlement. They need to be made aware of the fact that
Banks are not some orchestra that plays while they scurry off the sinking
Titanic of Black money!
Indians demanding specific denominations from
a Bank need to know that banks are giving out exactly what they receive. Notes
are disbursed by the currency chest of the RBI. A locality with two banks, A
and B, can have a scenario wherein Bank A gets Rs 2000 notes on a particular
day and Bank B gets Rs 100 notes and vice versa on the next day. Neither of the
two will have a say in what it gets - and even RBI cannot help it! They are all
doing the best that they can, given the circumstances and the objective of the
exercise!
Indians wanting to exchange or deposit money
without a proof of identity cannot demand special treatment! Insistence by a
lady Teller for the requisite proof, cannot be responded with, ‘Aankh phod
doonga’! Shouting and banging on tables, not letting others to move forward,
cannot be acceptable behavior. Such violent, threatening behavior may well end
up with cops being called! That the bankers are not doing so, is a supreme act
of understanding and grace on their part, which needs to be appreciated and applauded!
Seeking separate queues based on faith and gender in crowded banks, already
maintaining special lines for Senior Citizens and Divyangs, is stretching the
already stressed bandwidth too far! Our self-interest, bordering on selfishness
cannot be blamed on the Banker!
The open secret about people hoarding cash in
their lockers is out and Demonetization is bound to get it back into the
economy. The frequent visits by people for depositing piles of unaccounted
cash, after paying the necessary taxes, is a case in point! Let us remember that Rs 5 lakh Crores have
come back in and Rs 1 Lakh Crores have gone out. So yes, there will be a crunch
and all of us have to bear it as that necessary, temporary pain of a root canal
treatment! Bankers have been patiently working and supporting the move, so far.
However, if instead of empathizing, we continue complaining without
understanding their predicament, we might trigger a response that is bound to
harm us more than anyone else. Bankers have been working very hard. They
deserve our respect, empathy and appreciation, lest, their morale and patience
should get adversely affected. Why should any banker take abuse after going
through a seemingly unending ordeal?
Haven't they sacrificed a lot more than
weekends and holidays, without a complaint, for us? So when an annoyed school
teacher unable to get cash on account of late arrival at a branch starts
cursing the staff with, “Bank Bandh hoga deka lo” , one can only wish for
the Mainstream Media to educate and make
citizens aware. Our nitpicking politicians, looking to recreate a zoo on the
currency, and our eminent intellectuals, supporting a Bandh against a great
initiative to reduce class divide, could have used their clout to spread
information. But they choose not to! The TRP driven ScavenJournalism of our
Mainstream Media, egged on by the
theatrics of the usual suspects, has been assiduously focusing on the
inordinate inconvenience caused to the queueing Indians. But when journalists
send office boys to the bank, the undue Media concern for the masses tends to
sound hollow! Media could have played a positive role in making this change
less painful and cumbersome, but alas! They again failed.
Our
fellow Indians from the Banking sector, deserve as much love and respect from
us as is showered on those guarding the physical frontiers. Here's a gesture to
inspire all of us to be as unabashed in our appreciation as we are unbridled in
our criticism.
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