RBI lifts cash withdrawal limits from all bank accounts

Mumbai, March 13,2017 (IANS): All limits on savings bank cash withdrawals post-demonetisation ended on Monday, as had been announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last month. In a two-stage process, the weekly withdrawal limit per account had been raised to Rs 50,000 from Rs 24,000, with effect from 20 February, and all limits on ATM withdrawals were slated to cease from 13 March. The announcement had been made by RBI Deputy Governor R Gandhi following the fiscal's last monetary policy review announcement by the central bank in February, when it kept its key interest rate unchanged at 6.25 per cent, saying it awaited data on the full impact of the government's demonetisation drive. On 30 January, the RBI had ended all curbs on withdrawals from Current Accounts, Cash Credit Accounts and Overdraft Accounts. The limits were placed following the 8 November demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes. The upper limit at ATMs was just Rs 2,500 initially and was later raised to Rs 4,500. In January, the RBI had hiked the daily ATM withdrawal limit to Rs 10,000 and doubled the weekly Current Account withdrawal limit to Rs one lakh. The upper limit for weekly withdrawal from bank accounts had been raised to Rs 24,000 from Rs 20,000 in November. While lifting of ATM withdrawal limits represents coming full circle for these machines in respect of demonetisation, the return to normalcy in terms of cash available in them is still awaited, indicating the slow pace of remonetisation.