Reserve Bank of India data says old notes worth Rs 15.44 lakh crore were there in the market, out of which 15.28 lakh crore have been received by the bank. Reserve Bank of India data says old notes worth Rs 15.44 lakh crore were there in the market, out of which 15.28 lakh crore have been received by the bank.

The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday confirmed that 8.9 crore old Rs 1,000 notes out of 632.6 crore have not been returned post the note ban last November. This means all but 1.4 per cent of the old Rs 1,000 notes have come back into the banking system. As per the data released by the RBI, old notes worth Rs 15.44 lakh crore were there in the market, out of which 15.28 lakh crore have been received by the bank.

The government had announced demonetisation of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 note on November 8, 2016 to flush out black money from the market. The government replaced old Rs 500 notes with new ones, but no replacement for Rs 1000 notes has been made. Instead, a new Rs 2,000 note was introduced post note ban. Besides, new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes, the RBI has also printed new Rs 200 notes.

RBI said there were as many 588.2 crore of Rs 500 notes, both old and new in circulation as of March 31, 2017. As of March 31, 2016, there were 1,570.7 crore Rs 500 notes in circulation.

The report further said that the cost of printing of currency notes more than doubled to Rs 7,965 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 3,421 crore in the previous year on account of new currency printing.

Strongly reacting to the RBI data on demonetisation, former finance minister P Chidambaram tweeted, ” Rs 16000 crore out of demonetised notes of Rs 15,44,000 crore did not come back to RBI. That is 1%. Shame on RBI which ‘recommended’ demonetisation. RBI ‘gained’ Rs 16000 crore, but ‘lost’ Rs 21000 crore in printing new notes! The economists deserve Nobel Prize99% notes legally exchanged! Was demonetisation a scheme designed to convert black money into white?”

Rs 16000 cr out of demonetised notes of Rs 1544,000 cr did not come back to RBI. That is 1%. Shame on RBI which ‘recommended’ demonetisation — P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) August 30, 2017

RBI ‘gained’ Rs 16000 crore, but ‘lost’ Rs 21000 crore in printing new notes! The economists deserve Nobel Prize.

99% notes legally exchanged! Was demonetisation a scheme designed to convert black money into white?

(With inputs from PTI)

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