Currency chests under water in Surat

Hundreds of crores of currency notes stashed in currency chests maintained by banks in Surat, the country's diamond and textiles hub, are feared damaged because of flooding across the city.

State Bank of India's attempts to open its three currency chests in Surat failed on Thursday. Over Rs 100 crore of currency notes are estimated to be stored inside.

J M Patel, SBI chief manager, and an office-bearer of the state-level bankers committee, told Business Standard: "Although there has been no estimate of losses given by banks as of now, the pressure of the flood waters was so much that bankers are worried about the damage it has caused in their currency chests. There is a definite possibility that banks' currency chests have been submerged."

A bank official said: "On any given day, a currency chest contains not less than Rs 100

crore. Surat city would have at least 10 currency chests and many of them believed to be under water."

G P Gairola, chairman of Dena Bank and head of the Gujarat state-level bankers' committee, said Surat city was cut-off for a couple of days from the rest of the state and all bank branches and ATMs have been affected by floods."

Currency chests are currency storage rooms managed by banks on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India. The notes belong to the RBI. Damaged notes are destroyed and replaced by the central bank. Bank of Baroda sources said almost all of the bank's 24 ATMs and its 30 branches are under water.

Meanwhile, the RBI has instructed all scheduled banks to quickly restore all banking services in areas affected by monsoon floods.