Source: LiveMint
According to Indian Express, an information available to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) says that post demonetisation about ₹ 14 lakh crore in demonetised currency have been deposited with banks, so far. Which is also an indication that the notes that got extinguished was much lower than expected. However only ₹75,000 crore has been released from RBI’s own currency reserves to normalize the overnight note-ban.
But the RBI has been of the opinion that the situation would be close to normal in another fortnight or so with almost Rs 2-2.5 lakh crore additional currency, freshly printed, being dispatched to the currency chests of banks. Government officials also claimed that almost Rs 10 lakh crore in new currency have already been supplied to banks. The RBI has not released data on demonetisation deposits yet. The government is considering a proposal to decentralise the process of counting. “We are looking if banks can be involved to finish the task much earlier,” the official said.
When demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes was announced, the system had Rs 17.4 lakh crore worth currency in circulation. Of this, Rs 15.4 lakh crore was demonetised. According to MailToday, new figure of Rs 14 lakh crore has come at a time when there have been reports that almost all of the demonetised currency or Rs 15 lakh crore may have already returned to the system. Which however makes it an almost success.
Claiming the act of demonetization The RBI also claimed that the fact that much of the demonetised currency has returned to the system means the whole exercise was a success and not a failure.
“The amount of money that has come back wouldn’t have come back even in the next five years,” says an official to Economic Times