New Delhi: Frustrated by long queues outside banks and ATMs? You can now drive into a petrol pump to draw cash. Swipe your debit card at petrol stations run by state-run oil companies and you will get Rs 2,000.

The facility will initially be available at 2,500 petrol pumps across the country that have card swipe machines from State Bank of India, the country's largest bank. Over the next three days, the facility will be extended to 20,000 outlets that have card swipe machines from HDFC Bank, Citibank and ICICI Bank.

The All India Petroleum Dealers Association has taken up the initiative to ease the rush for new currency notes at bank branches and functional ATMs following abolition of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

However, this can create a rush at petrol pumps causing inconvenience to customers coming to fill their vehicles.

The decision to use pumps to dispense cash was taken on Thursday at a meeting between senior executives of Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum and SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya.

The facility to dispense cash from petrol pumps will continue even after November 24, the time till which old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 can be used to pay for essential services. The withdrawal will be restricted to Rs 2,000 per debit card per day.

Rs2.5 Lakh Can Be Withdrawn For Wedding Expenses; Farmers Allowed Rs25000

Farmers and families planning weddings are allowed to withdraw more money from banks from Friday even as the entire nation is facing a massive cash crunch after the sudden ban on high value currency last week. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reviewed cash availability and the steps taken to ease hardship in a meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the officials.

However, the amount of money that an individual can exchange by handing over the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in banks has been lowered to Rs 2,000.

Wedding Concessions

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das told reporters that a member of the family that has an upcoming wedding can withdraw up to Rs 250,000 subject to one of the members furnishing the PAN card details and also providing an undertaking that no other member will withdraw such an amount for that purpose.

Salary advances for central govt. employees

Two other decisions taken on Thursday are: A 15-day extension in the payment of crop insurance and an allowance for withdrawing Rs 10,000 as advance for central government employees up to Group 'C' to be adjusted against their November salary.