MUMBAI: India's crippling cash shortage could be mostly resolved by mid-January and completely disappear by the end of February as the demand-supply gap narrows with higher currency printing.Cash disbursement to the public could touch Rs 9 lakh crore by the second week of January if the government's printing presses work at the current pace, senior bankers told ET. This would be more than 50% of the amount withdrawn from the system, assuming that almost all of the Rs 15 lakh crore in old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes is deposited with banks by the end of December.Calculations by ET and cross checked with bankers show that money with the public could rise to over Rs 13 lakh crore by the second week of February based on the printing presses' current capacity. This would be very close to the amount withdrawn from the system and the cash shorta ge could effectively be over by the end of February, bankers said.The Reserve Bank of India did not reply to an email on the issue, but data on the regulator's website show it had disbursed notes worth Rs 4.6 lakh crore in the one month ended December 10. If one assumes that presses will work at the same speed in the coming weeks, the amount disbursed to the public should cross Rs 9 lakh crore by January 10.A month later, by February 10, the presses would have disgorged close to Rs 14 lakh crore of currency notes, or more than 90% of the entire amount withdrawn from the system.Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to withdraw legal tender status for Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes caused a serious shortage of cash in the system with RBI unable to satisfy the needs of the public. Long queues outside bank branches and automated teller machines (ATMs) and increasing public ire forced the government to focus on currency printing and distribution across the country.Several experts and political leaders have slammed the government's move as arbitrary and ill-advised.Economic growth is likely to be hit in the next two quarters and former finance minister P Chidambaram has estimated that it would take seven months for RBI to replace the notes withdrawn from the system.“There were 1,570 crore notes of one denomination and 530 crore notes of another denomination -a total of 2,100 crore notes. The capacity of printing presses is 300 crore notes per month. If they wanted to replace 2,100 crore notes with the equivalent denomination notes, it would take seven months to print them.That is why they introduced Rs 2,000 notes,“ Chidambaram had said in a television interview recently.ET's calculations and conversations with bankers show the replacement could happen much more quickly. But the replacement rate could slow down if RBI prints more Rs 500 notes and fewer Rs 2,000 notes.