RBI governor deposes before Parliamentary Standing Committee of Finance

NEW DELHI: RBI Governor Urijit Patel on Wednesday told a parliamentary committee that the amount of junked notes deposited after demonetisation was still being counted.Patel gave this information at a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance when a member specifically asked him to give details of the value of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes which were allowed to be exchanged till December 30.He said the total money in circulation in the country now was Rs 15.4 lakh crore against Rs 17.7 lakh crore at the time of demonetisation in November last year, according to sources.At the meeting, Naresh Agarwal of the Samajwadi Party is understood to have demanded the names of 12 industrialists whose outstanding loans amounted to 25 per cent of the non-performing assets in the banking system.Naresh Agarwal and Trinamool Congress MP Saugato Roy had previously asked the RBI Governor how much of the banned notes have come back into the system. The RBI governor said the total money in circulation now is Rs. 15.4 lakh crore against Rs. 17.7 lakh crore in November last year when Prime Minister Narendra abruptly banned high value notes in an attempt to battle black money and corruption.The Standing Committee on Finance headed by Congress leader Veerappa Moily had also questioned RBI governor, on the decision of demonetisation, on January 18 as well but most of their questions had remained unanswered then.(With input from agencies)