RBI said Rs 15.31 lakh crore of total Rs 15.44 lakh crore of old currency notes had returned to the system after demonetisation in November 2016.
New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India said that Rs 15.31 lakh crore of the total Rs 15.44 lakh crore of old currency notes that were demonetised in November 2016 had returned to the system.
The information is contained in the RBI’s annual report that was released Wednesday.
“The processing of specified bank notes (SBNs) has since been completed at all centres of the Reserve Bank. The total SBNs returned from circulation is Rs 15,310.73 billion,” the central bank said in the annual report referring to demonetisation.
Also read: You may finally know how much old cash was returned after demonetisation
Last year, the central bank had said in its annual report that Rs 15.28 lakh crore of the old currencies had returned to the banks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s shock decision to cancel Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
This Rs 15.28 lakh crore amount, the RBI had said last year, comprised 99 per cent of the total currency that was demonetised.
In a report submitted to a parliamentary panel on finance, the RBI had last week said that the specified bank notes (SBNs or demonetised notes), received after demonetisation, had finally been verified for authenticity and numerical accuracy.
Also read: Congress to give fresh life to MPs’ report that said demonetisation was a flop
Prime Minister Modi had in a televised address to the nation announced the scrapping of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes on 8 November 2016, dubbing it as a war on black money, corruption, counterfeit currency and terror funding.
Opposition parties, however, criticised the decision, predicting its “disastrous” impact on the economy and citing hardships that it posed to people who had to stand for hours in lines outside banks to replace the demonetised notes with new ones.
In its previous annual report released in August last year, the central bank had revealed that Rs 15.28 lakh crore, or 99 per cent of the demonetised currencies totally worth Rs 15.44 lakh crore, had returned to the banks by 30 June 2017.
The central bank, however, termed it as provisional as the SBNs were still being verified for authenticity and numerical accuracy. The demonetised notes from Nepal and Bhutan were also yet to be counted.
Only a handful of people have been left out with one or two currency notes if 500 or 1000. Why penalise them. It will be in fitness of things if the government allowed such persons to exchange up to RS. 5000 against Aadhar cards.
Sir, what about SBN lying in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka & African countries including cooperative bank to mention a few.
I seriously don’t believe this