Claiming that critics were proved wrong on note ban, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that impact ofdemonetisation on GDP so far not as bad as predicted.
“Critics were proved wrong. There could have been adverse impact of demonetisation on GDP for quarter or so, but it is not as bad as predicted,” Jaitley told reporters at a media briefing.
With just a day left for Modi government’s 50-day deadline to end cash crunch caused by demonetisation, Finance Minister said that critical part of remonetisation is now behind us.
He added that remonetisation has advance substantially and the RBI has a large amount of currency available with it.
“A large part of the demonetised currency has been replaced and more new notes of Rs 500 are being released for the circulation,” Arun Jaitley said.
Jaitley thanked people for supporting demonetisation and said that not a single incident of unrest has been reported over junked notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.
Finance minister said that large benefits of the demonetisation move are visible now and there is identifiable impact on tax collection already.
“Notwithstanding what critics predicted, there has been a significant increase in tax collection in all segments,” Jaitley said.
“Till December 19, direct tax mop-up rose 14.4%, indirect tax grew 26.2%, central excise is up 43.3%,” he said.
