Cash-shortage situation is not new, a temporary situation: SBI chairman

State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar Sinha said a cash-shortage situation is not new and this is a temporary situation. Sinha assured that things will return to normalcy in the next week.

Rajnish Kumar Sinha, said, "Yes this is a temporary situation which is mainly due to geographical factors. There is one solution for it that a proper cash management system be maintained."

"In the next week, things will start coming back to normalcy. There is a department which monitors situations like this. This is not new. RBI has been given an intent to increase the flow of Rs 500 notes in the system," Sinha said.

He further said the cash-crunch is caused by high payments to farmers as this is a procurement season. "One reason is that procurement season has come and the payment to farmers have gone up. In Maharashtra and Mumbai, there is no cash crunch as far as SBI is concerned."

Meanwhile, SC Garg, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs stated, "We print about 500 cr of Rs 500 notes per day. We have taken steps to raise this production 5 times. In next couple of days, we'll have a supply of about 2500 cr of Rs 500 notes per day."

There have been reports of currency shortage in at least six states -- Gujarat, Eastern Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. RBI report shows that the currency in circulation in the country has reached the pre-demonetisation level of about Rs 17 lakh crore.