KARACHI: The SMS service launched by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for issuance of fresh currency notes for Eid-ul-Fitr 2019 has received a huge response.

SBP appreciates the interest shown by the general public in its 8877 SMS Service for obtaining fresh notes for Eid. This year service was launched on May 19, 2019 against arrangements made at 1718 designated "e-branches" in 142 cities as compared to 1535 branches in 132 cities last year, said a press release on Wednesday.

For facilitating maximum number of customers, the total booking limit was also increased this year to 3 million customers as compared to 2.7 million customers limit last year. However, the total capacity of this system is constrained by the number of customers that e-branches can accommodate each day.

Accordingly, the new bookings have been closed as the service has exceeded its optimal limit of 3 million customers. However, the issuance of fresh currency notes against the already issued booking codes will continue until the last day of the service i.e. May 31, 2019, subject to transaction code's validity.

Apart from this SMS Service, banks may continue to provide fresh currency notes to their customers from their branches and ATMs as sufficient quantity is being provided to them by SBP.