Anger was rising across the country on Saturday as banks struggled to dispense cash after the government withdrew large denomination notes in a shock move aimed at uncovering billions of dollars of unaccounted wealth hidden from the taxman.
Hundreds of thousands of people stood outside banks for a third day for long hours trying to replace 500 and 1,000 rupee bank notes that were abolished earlier in the week.
These bills made up more than 80 percent of the currency in circulation leaving millions of people without cash and threatening to grind large parts of the cash-driven economy to a halt.
"There is chaos everywhere," said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had been critical about the Centre’s decision. He said Modi's move had upended the lives of the poor and working while the rich - whose wealth he had sought to target - had found loopholes to get around the new rules.
People argued and banged the glass doors of a branch of Standard Chartered in southern Delhi after the security guards blocked entry, saying there were already too many people inside the bank.
Others turned on Modi, criticising his ongoing visit to Japan while countrymen suffered at home. "He is taking bullet train rides in Japan and here you have old people knocking on bank doors for cash," said Prabhat Kumar, a college student who said he had spent six hours at the queue.
"He has made a terrible mistake."
Nearly half of India's 202,000 ATMs were shut on Friday and those that operated quickly ran out of the new notes as scores of people descended upon them.
Traders in Delhi's vegetable market said they were considering to shut down the market as cash was running out and banks were dispensing a limited amount.
"We might have to close down until the situation stabilises," said Metharam Kriplani, the president of the Chambers of Azadpur Fruit and Vegetable Traders said.
People in Mumbai said grocers were charging ten times the price of salt in return for accepting the old cash notes and in Benguluru some people were using their old notes to buy one-time insurance policies.
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