Currency returned to RBI post-note ban being calculated: Jaitley

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is still calculating and taking stock of the currency that was returned to banks post demonetisation, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday.

In response to a question by Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal in the Rajya Sabha, Jaitley said that the RBI was taking stock of the currency that returned to the banks and would come out with an "exact figure" in due course.

The finance minister did not specify a time-frame for the same.

"The money that was being returned to banks (during the window given by government) went to currency chests and then came to RBI. It periodically gave some figures of the money that was coming in," Jaitley said.

"Now the RBI is calculating the exact amount, and would come out with the exact figure," he added.

The Narendra Modi government, which scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8 last year, has faced repeated queries from the opposition on the amount of currency that returned to the banks after the note ban.

The government had said the move was to scrap the fake currency in circulation and curb black money.