Don't hide note ban info, PAC tells govt

Economic Affairs Secretary tells house panel govt had no record of money deposited since cash-ban

The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament was miffed at Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das’s reply to it that the government had no record of money deposited in banks since November 8, when demonetisation was announced. The panel has asked him to furnish a written statement.

Das said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was counting the money deposited in banks and the exercise would take some more time, sources said. PAC Chairman K V Thomas asked the senior finance ministry official why the government was hiding the data and told him that this argument would not work.

Thomas also told Das to be more transparent in the matter as secrecy would lead to suspicion in the minds of people.

In the previous PAC meeting, on January 20, RBI Governor Urjit Patel had given a similar reply, saying information on money deposited in banks since the note ban was not available. He, too, was asked to furnish a written statement by the panel.

When some members wanted to know who took the note ban decision, Das told the panel the government had taken the decision on the recommendation of the RBI. He also said the government had started discussions on note ban since January 2016.

Why did the government not follow an ordinance route to demonetisation, as was done in 1978, but resorted to an executive order? The economic affairs secretary replied it was done to maintain secrecy.

Besides Das, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia also briefed the panel. Congress member Satyavrat Chaturvedi wanted to know how much black money and fake currency has been recovered.

On queries related to problems being faced by people as all automatic teller machines (ATMs) were not dispensing cash, Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chhib Duggal told the panel the cash supply situation would normalise by the end of March.

When some panel members pointed out that non-performing assets of public sector banks had gone up, the financial services secretary replied that this was due to bad debts getting properly defined and now showing in the books.