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New Delhi, July 13: Even eight months after the demonetisation move, the Reserve Bank of India is unable to give an exact figure of the amount of junked notes deposited. Appearing before the Parliamentary panel, RBI Governor Urjit Patel said the Central Bank had cut staff holidays and they were working “round the clock” except on Sundays to count the notes.
In order to fasten the process, Patel said that the bank was using 39 counting machines and had hired seven more machines to count the demonetised notes. “Even with some many machines, it is taking time as we also have to keep count of the fake notes. We have decided to buy some more counting machines,” sources quoted him as saying, the Hindustan Times reported.
The remarks came as the panel asked Patel to give details of the value of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes which were allowed to be exchanged till December 30, 2016. The total money in circulation now was Rs 15.4 lakh crore against Rs 17.7 lakh crore at the time of demonetisation in November 2016, sources said.
In a sudden move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had ordered the withdrawal of the then existing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, which accounted for about 86 per cent of currency in circulation of Rs 17.9 lakh crore. The move was aimed at checking black money, counterfeit notes and terror financing.
In a bid to ease the cash crunch, the RBI has also started to print bills of 200 rupees. The Rs 200 currency note would be third in line to be printed following demonetisation. The new Rs 500 replaced the old one and Rs 2,000 note replaced the old Rs 1,000 note.
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