Shillong, Dec. 26: Meghalaya is still struggling for small denomination currency notes although the situation following demonetisation of high-value currency notes on November 8 has improved.

On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Subsequently new Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes were put into circulation with riders issued on the withdrawal of money from the accounts. #However, while the Centre has assured that people would face less hardship in coming weeks, Meghalaya, like most other states, is still struggling for small denomination notes.

Speaking to The Telegraph, the secretary (finance) to the Meghalaya government, Sanjay Goyal, said while there is "sufficient" currency post-demonetisation, the state is yet to receive smaller denomination notes.

"The amount of cash available in the banks is not an issue. We are struggling for small denomination currency notes as the new Rs 500 notes are not sufficiently available," Goyal said.

Moreover, he said while the amount that has been deposited into bank accounts since November 9 is yet to be ascertained, around Rs 1,500 crore of new currency notes have been pumped into the banking network post-demonetisation.

Most of the ATMs are filled with Rs 2,000 notes, making things difficult for people. While big establishments, including hotels, have installed electronic data capture (EDC) machines or point of sale (POS) terminals, most of the smaller shops are yet to adopt cashless transactions.

Meghalaya is one of the states in the Northeast that has seen a rise in the number of accounts and the amount of cash deposited in the Pradhan Manti Jan Dhan Yojana bank accounts. As on December 14, there are 378,784 Jan Dhan accounts while the amount of money deposited in them is around Rs 264.14 crore.

According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, Rs 12.44 lakh crore of old notes had been deposited into banks as on December 10. As on November 8, the total value of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes in circulation was estimated to be around Rs 15.44 lakh crore.

As Modi has promised that the situation for "honest citizens" would improve after December 30, it remains to be seen to what extent the shortage of smaller currency notes will be addressed and whether new norms will be issued vis-à-vis withdrawal of money from bank accounts.