Is cash crunch back? Dry ATMs leave people disappointed

ATMs are running dry and the cash crunch seems to be back to haunt Indians. Automatic teller machines have been empty at several parts of India over the past few days leaving people high and dry 

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It may be over five months since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic demonetisation move, but it seems the common man's woes aren't over yet. The whole country it seems is facing another round of cash crunch.

About 60% of the ATM machines are working, but most of them are running out of cash very fast as they are not being loaded to their full capacity, sources told Economic Times.

The sources told the publication that though the cash supply had improved in the new year, it had not gone up significantly. In fact, only Rs 10 lakh is being loaded in each machine.

"We are still loading less than 70% of the full capacity of ATMs and there are concerns around the (inadequate) supply of Rs 100 denomination notes," chief executive of one of India's biggest ATM manufacturing companies, which also manages ATMs, told ET.

The reason of the cash crunch in ATMs is attributed to high withdrawals towards the end of a financial year.

"Every year we usually see a spike in supply of currency notes to meet this higher demand. The demand this year has been high as usual, but there was no increase in supply, causing a serious cash shortfall across the country," another top executive with a cash logistics company responsible for transporting cash and managing ATMs told the pink paper.

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