Bibek Debroy, Member, NITI Aayog Bibek Debroy, Member, NITI Aayog

At least Rs 15 lakh crore of demonetised bank notes may have returned to the banking system going by a rough estimate, said Bibek Debroy, member, Niti Aayog on Friday, adding that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was yet to release the official data. Debroy who spoke at the FE CFO Awards 2017, said the government expects the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) which will end on March 31, to yield around Rs 2 lakh crore.

“My guess is probably another Rs 2 lakh crore will come into the system by March end. This does not mean all the money that is back has become legitimate and has been converted into white. The scrutiny is going to happen now.” Debroy said. Debroy said that while tax inspectors will “go after the malafide accounts, there is also the danger they would go after some bonafide ones”. On demonetisation, Debroy said, “the intention of demonetisation was not to address the black wealth that was not in form of cash, it was only to address black money in form in cash”.

Debroy also said a solution to the problem of stressed assets is likely in the next two weeks. “The finance ministry and the RBI are working on it and you can expect an announcement soon,” he said. Debroy said there is a reason to be optimistic about disinvestment and said it will be wrong to extrapolate from past performances. “There is a basket of Central PSEs and while you may want to list some of them, in the case of few others, you may want to shut down and in the rest you may want to bring down equity below 51 per cent,” Debroy said.

Earlier in the evening, NS Kannan, executive director, ICICI Bank, said, “It is essential for us to recognise and reward the critical role played by CFOs in organisations. The CFO today is the fulcrum of governance within the organisation, acting as the key internal representative of various stakeholders of the company. Apart from helping companies protect their bottom lines, they act as the conscious keepers of the CEOs and boards. In fact, I would like to stress that the most important organisational role the CFO performs is ensuring that the CEO and the rest of the board members sleep well at night!”

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