NEW DELHI | MUMBAI: Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel told the parliamentary standing committee on finance that Rs 9.2 lakh crore of new currency has been issued so far, and said he’s confident that cash supply is no longer a problem. But he did not specify a timeline for lifting restrictions on cash withdrawal.Patel said the central bank is yet to estimate how much old currency came back post demonetisation . “The process of arriving at a figure is still on,” the governor told members of Parliament on Wednesday. He assured the House panel that RBI will provide those details at a future date.The RBI governor was accompanied by three deputies as he deposed before the committee. He will be called by the Veerappa Moily-headed panel at least one more time, most likely during the recess period of the budget session, sources said.But RBI data showed normalcy could take a while to return. For the first time in 10 weeks, currency in circulation turned positive in the week ended January 13 as the central bank revved up printing of notes, which could replenish nearly 80% of the currency pulled out due to demonetisation by late February.Total currency in circulation rose by Rs 52,790 crore to Rs 9.5 lakh crore in the week ended January 13, RBI data show. However, the amount is just 53% of the currency level of Rs 17.97 lakh crore on November 8, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes would cease to be legal tender. The value of high-denomination notes was estimated at about Rs 15.44 lakh crore.Although RBI does not specify reasons behind the rise and fall in these numbers, analysts said the regulator appears to be focussing on printing notes of lower denomination to help achieve the government’s goal of a less-cash economy where notes are primarily for transactions than to save and stow under mattresses.“Based on the published numbers, going by the pace at which RBI is printing notes, it appears RBI is focussing on printing Rs 500 notes,” Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic adviser, State Bank of India, told ET. “This is a healthy sign as it is an indication that cash and currencies are being pushed more as a medium of exchange rather than of store value.”At Wednesday’s hearing, members of the parliamentary panel sought to know whether RBI’s “autonomy was undermined”, but a ruling party MP intervened to point out that the government was well within its rights to make policy recommendations to RBI.The RBI brass also reaffirmed that the suggestion to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes first came from the government, but was eventually discussed and cleared by the central bank’s board. The officials did not specify the cost of printing these new currencies despite a few probing questions.To a question on the preparations made to deal with the fallout, the RBI officials said there had been a series of meetings involving the finance ministry and RBI starting as early as January 2016. At one stage, they added, the meetings were held even on a weekly basis.The House panel’s interaction is believed to have been “cordial”. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, a member of the panel, is believed to have asked fellow MPs ahead of the governor’s appearance to ensure the “prestige of the institution” was respected.TWO ROUNDS OF SITTINGSThe committee held two rounds of sittings on Wednesday — one with senior finance ministry officials and the other with the RBI brass. The finance ministry was represented by the secretaries of the departments of finance, revenue and financial services. Officials from the Central Board of Direct Taxes were also present.One fact the finance ministry officials stressed while elaborating the reasons for demonetisation was a recommendation to this effect by the Supreme Courtmonitored Special Investigation Team in its report on black money.The SIT report, they said, also suggested moving towards a cashless society to check accumulation of black money.However, when MPs such as Bhartruhari Mahtab, Saugata Roy and Jyotiraditya Scindia sought to know how printing a higher-denomination note (of Rs 2,000) will help fight black money and terror funding, neither the RBI brass nor finance ministry officials could elaborate.When some MPs asked whether, post demonetisation, printing more Rs 2,000 notes instead of ‘ATM-compatible smaller- denomination notes’ was a mistake, the RBI brass again did not specify but said the central bank had increased supply of notes to meet demand.