Enough currency with RBI: Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday asked people not to hoard new currency notes and to spend money to revive the economy that is expected to suffer due to demonetisation. 

As queues were seen outside banks and ATMs, Jaitley on Tuesday assured the people there was enough currency in the chests of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to last far beyond December 30, the last date when people can deposit old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in banks. 

The government on Monday tightened rules for depositing the scrapped notes, saying this could be done only at one go if the deposit was over Rs 5,000 and that too with explanations.

"There was full preparedness. There was not a single day when RBI had not released adequate currency to banks," Jaitley said at a press conference. 

He said RBI had maintained the stock of currency through advance as well as current printing. "RBI has more than adequate stock to last till December 30 and far beyond," he said.

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the currency situation had improved considerably since November 8 and there was adequate currency with RBI to meet demand. RBI in November had said there was a sufficient supply of notes after increased production began nearly two months ago.

According to the Press Trust of India, RBI had Rs 4.94 lakh crore in Rs 2,000 notes on November 8, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced demonetisation. These Rs 2,000 notes accounted for roughly one-fourth of Rs 20 lakh crore it  had in demonetised currency notes, according to information got through the Right to Information (RTI). 

RBI said banks had received Rs 12.44 lakh crores in old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes till December 10, accounting for 80 per cent of the value of scrapped notes estimated at Rs 15.45 lakh crore. 

When asked about the difference between Rs 20 lakh crore that RBI had in scrapped notes and Rs 15.45 lakh crore that was in circulation, Jaitley said,""As per report based on RTI query, it probably refers to total notes printed. Not all notes printed are circulated. They were either in RBI's vaults or they were in printing presses. So that is not part of the currency in circulation."