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New Delhi, November 10: Even after a year of note ban, demonetised Indian currency is still floating in countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, the Finance Ministry informed Parliament’s finance standing committee on Thursday. The Narendra Modi government is yet to take a decision on the same.
Economic Affairs Secretary Subash Garg is believed to have told the committee that some amounts of demonetised Indian currency notes were yet to be returned. Even India’s neighbours where Indian currency is in use have raised the matter with New Delhi, the Times of India reported.
While the government did not specify the value of notes held in these nations, the possibility of accepting demonetised notes is also remote. The Centre has strongly opposed opening fresh windows even for Indian citizens. It has been reported that 99 per cent of demonetised notes have returned to banks and chances of accepting the remaining by Indian banks or Reserve Bank of India is low. Also read: RBI Cuts Printing Order of Notes
The new development has given a new twist to the deliberations of the committee, which is preparing a report on note ban and digitisation. The committee is likely to seek more time to prepare the report as it has sought additional information from government department and agencies. The panel has also decided to seek view of state governments on ramifications of note ban.
The committee said that it needed to hear representatives of industry chambers, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence. The committee has also sought information on the parameters on which the outcome of note ban should be evaluated from senior officials — financial services secretary Rajiv Kumar, CBDT chairman Sushil Chandra and Garg.
The officials who met the committee on Thursday said that about Rs 16,000 crore of demonetised currency had not returned to banks and that the cost of printing new currency was about Rs 7,000 crore.
In its next meeting on November 16, senior officials of the telecom ministry and stakeholders would give their views on the infrastructure readiness for digital payments.
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