NEW DELHI: The processing of demonetised Rs 500 and 1,000 banknotes is complete, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its annual report for 2017-18, adding that 99.3 per cent of the notes, worth Rs 15.3 lakh crore have been returned to banks.

Of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in circulation before November 8, 2016, notes worth Rs 15.31 lakh crore have been returned. The "humungous task of processing and verification of specified bank notes (SBNs) was successfully achieved," it said.

The SBNs received were verified, counted and processed in the sophisticated high speed currency verification and processing system (CVPS) for accuracy and genuineness and then shredded, it added.

Post-demonetisation, RBI spent Rs 7,965 crore in 2016-17 on printing new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 and other denomination notes, more than double the Rs 3,421 crore spent in the previous year.

In 2017-18 (July 2017 to June 2018), it spent another Rs 4,912 crore on printing of currency, the annual report said.

The demonetisation was hailed as a step that would curb black money, corruption and check counterfeit currency but RBI said, "Counterfeit notes detected in SBNs decreased by 59.7 and 59.6 per cent in the denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, respectively."

"Compared to the previous year, there was an increase of 35 per cent in counterfeit notes detected in the denomination of Rs 100, while there was a noticeable increase of 154.3 per cent in counterfeit notes detected in the denomination of Rs 50," RBI said

The report also noted that India's economy has been 'resilient' with upturns in investment and construction sectors, during the financial year ending March 31, 2018. The central bank expects an uptick in banks' credit growth, having hinged its hopes on the progress being made in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Earlier this week, the RBI's 180-day deadline for banks to recast loans once payments are missed, ended, putting 70 companies and loans worth Rs 3.76 lakh crore under the IBC scanner.

"Currency in circulation surpassed its pre-demonetisation level while credit growth revived to double digits from a historic low in the previous year," the report stated.

The RBI report however, gave warnings to the economy on the inflation and trade deficit front. While the report predicted headline inflation to face upside risks for the rest of the year, it foresaw 'heavy impact' on trade deficit on account of global crude oil prices.

"Changing demand-supply dynamics in international crude oil market may impact heavily on India’s trade deficit," the report stated.

The retail inflation for the month of July cooled to 4.17 per cent, from 5 per cent during the previous month.

On the other hand, trade deficit for the month of July widened to $18.02 billion against $11.45 billion in the same month, a year ago.

The RBI annual report also lauded the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), terming it an 'important milestone towards an efficient indirect tax structure'.

(With agency inputs)



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