22,500 ATMs recalibrated today: Jaitley

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said 22,500 ATMs will be programmed on Thursday to dispense new currency that have a fresh design and size. The government's demonetization move took out Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from the system. The government had said that the decommissioned notes would be replaced with Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes, several ATMs are now dispensing the new notes. But even Thursday’s announcement will serve just around 10% of India’s more than 200,000 ATMs. The government has previously admitted that the entire exercise of recalibrating ATMs will take at least three weeks. Meanwhile, there was talk about the government introducing new Rs 1,000 notes also. However, Jaitley said "Rs 1,000 notes will not be reintroduced for now." In a bid to ease crowding outside banks, the government announced on Thursday that the limit for a one-time exchange of old notes was slashed from Rs 4,500 to Rs 2,000. Jaitley said the move was aimed at reducing the misuse of funds.