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86% ATMs operating, notes being printed 24x7: Centre

New Delhi: Currency crunch seen in many parts of the country in past few days showed signs of easing today with 86 percent of ATMs coming online, cash being transported to deficit areas and government presses working overtime to print new notes, officials said.
Government officials said that with special arrangements being made to transport cash to areas that during the last three days faced an "unusual spurt in demand", 86 percent of the 2.2 lakh ATMs were operational, dispensing cash. This was higher than 80 percent operational ATMs on Wednesday and just 60 percent working ATMs on Tuesday.
The shortage has been blamed on the inadequate availability of Rs 2,000 currency notes, which sources in the government said could be because of hoarding ahead of elections. Also, ATM cassettes had not been configured to dispense smaller sized Rs 200 notes.
An official said the government has ramped up printing of currency notes and is operating all the four presses 24x7. The presses this week have been minting Rs 500 and Rs 200 notes without a break to meet an estimated Rs 70,000 crore of currency shortfall in the country.
On an average, the four presses of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) operate for 18-19 hours daily with a 3-4 hour break. But since the time ATMs ran dry, the presses are operating 24X7, the official said.
Such overtime printing was last seen post demonetisation when the printing of new Rs 2,000 notes was fast-tracked to meet the liquidity shortage in the market.
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