Demonetization: ‘Junk notes still being counted by RBI’- Governor Urjit Patel

New Delhi: The amount of junked notes deposited after demonetization was still being counted, RBI Governor Urjit Patel said to a parliamentary committee on Wednesday.

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 30 December.

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,’ said Patel.

Many panel members were reported to have expressed unsatisfied gestures as Patel wasn’t able to provide any particular figure, and simply flitting the grill by saying that ‘counting of the notes was still in progress

“RBI has cut down on holidays to complete counting of the junked currency notes and that its staff is working ‘round the clock’, except on Sundays,” Patel told the panel.

The RBI has also issued tenders for new machines for counting of the notes with staff strength of 15,000.

Meanwhile, in the meeting Naresh Agarwal of the Samajwadi Party demanded the names of 12 industrialists, whose outstanding loans amounted to 25 percent of the non-performing assets in the banking system