Day-I was for the able-bodied.

For those who had thronged the 6,700-odd bank branches across the state on Thursday to exchange their old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for newer or lesser denomination ones, it was a test of endurance, grit and patience.

Men and women flocked to the banks starting 8am, hoping to beat the rush, which was natural given the fact that 86 per cent currency notes in circulation across the country have ceased being legal tender since Wednesday.

But setting out early did not help, as they got stuck in serpentine queues, which moved at snail's pace. Most of the people had to spend two to four hours to exchange notes measuring up to a maximum of Rs 4,000.

"I am standing in the queue since 8am though banks open at 10am. I came early, but several people were already in the queue. My notes were exchanged around noon and I am relieved that I will be able to run the household for the next few days. It was tiresome," said Ramesh Kumar, a government official after completing the trade off at SBI-Patna main branch.

Ramesh was just one among the several thousands who had converged at the banks.

The day belonged to the youths as a senior bank official pointed out that very few aged and infirm people came to exchange currency notes. "We expect them to come in large numbers from tomorrow or day after, as they must have held back to beat the first-day rush."

At a branch at Rajendra Nagar, Lakshmikant Saxena, a student preparing for competitive examinations, was among the early birds. He was forced to come, as he had no money left apart from a couple of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes.

Another youth Nagendra Prasad rued that he was in the queue because a doctor he wanted to consult, refused to take the old notes and asked for newer ones or Rs 100 notes.

Chaos prevailed in the morning after bank officials asked people to submit photocopy of their identification documents such as PAN, Aadhaar or voter identity cards. This demand had not been publicised and thus added to their woes, as they had to rush to shops that have photocopy machines. Most of the shops weren't open in the morning. A private sector bank prominently displayed a notice claiming that their photocopy machine was not working.

"As if filling the request slip for exchange of old high denomination notes was not enough, bank officials insisted that we write serial numbers of notes being submitted for exchange. They then asked for photocopies of my PAN card. I was pushed further in the queue after I returned from the photocopy session. They could have just advertised these on TV to save our precious time," said Sushma Verma at Rajendra Nagar branch of SBI.

The process was smoother at SBI's main branch, where 12 counters were operational. Its assistant general manager (AGM) Akhil Kumar Mishra said 10,000 request slips were kept ready for visitors and half of them were over by 2.30pm.

Operations at SBI, which has around 1,000 branches in the state, were being monitored real-time at various levels with the help of CCTV cameras and data flow.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regional director for Bihar and Jharkhand M.K. Verma said: "The banks have performed well under pressure and the exchange work was performed at their branches in the state without any hindrance. Being the apex bank, we provided them all help."

RBI AGM Pravin Kumar said the apex bank threw open four of its counters at its Bihar and Jharkhand headquarters in Patna and over 700 people exchanged their notes on Thursday.

Police arrangements were adequate and no untoward incident was reported at bank branches, apart from minor scuffles over queuing at a few places, which were quickly resolved by the police and bank personnel on duty.

Post offices a failure

Currency note exchange stumbled at 90 post offices in Patna, as they could not get cash, including new currency notes and those of smaller denominations on time.

The worst hit was Patna general post office (GPO) where cash reached around 5pm. It was still in the process of being counted. Bankipur post office in Patna could commence operation only around 4 pm.

"The SBI was liaisoning cash movement to the post offices and it will have to explain this. I have already lodged a protest over the issue and informed our higher authorities. May be the RBI and the SBI were under pressure, but not getting cash on time left our customers irritated," director of postal services (headquarters) Adnan Ahmed said.