As media reports spoke of ATMs across the country going dry, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the government even as the finance ministry reviewed the situation and blamed it on “unusual demand for cash”.

“Desh ke ATM sab phir se khali, Benkon ki haalat kya kar dali,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Tuesday.

Last weekend, media reports spoke of ATMS especially in smaller towns and villages not delivering cash over the previous week.

The finance ministry meanwhile noted, “There are reports of cash shortages and some ATMs running dry of cash or becoming non-functional in some parts of the country.” It said there has been “unusual spurt in currency demand in the country in last three months”.

“In the current month, in the first 13 days itself, the currency supply increased by Rs. 45, 000 crores. This unusual spurt in demand is seen more in some parts of the country like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, MP and Bihar,” it said.

The government maintained it has, along with the Reserve Bank of India, “taken all steps to meet this unusual demand”. “We had adequate reserves of currency notes which have been used to meet fully the extraordinary demand generated so far. We continue to have in stock adequate currency notes of all denominations, including of Rs.500, 200 and Rs.100 to meet any demand.”

It assured people of adequate supply of currency notes “which have met entire demand so far”. It said all steps were being taken to ensure that ATMs are supplied with cash and to get non-functional ATMs normalised at the earliest.