No proposal to withdraw Rs 2000 banknote: Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said there was no proposal before the government to withdraw the new Rs 2,000 currency notes.

"There is no proposal to withdraw the Rs 2,000 denomination banknote," Jaitley said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He further said the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that have been returned to the currency chests of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) amounted to Rs 12.44 lakh crore as on December 10.

"The data obtained in this regard would need to be reconciled with the physical cash balances to eliminate counterfeit notes, accounting errors and possible double counts etc., after which only the final figures will be arrived at," he said.

The currency in circulation as on March 3 stood at Rs 12 lakh crore.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes on November 8.

"Demonetisation seeks to create a new 'normal' wherein the GDP would be bigger, cleaner and real," Jaitley said.

"This exercise has resulted in an increase in deposits with banks. This will facilitate reduction of interest rates and provide more headroom to banks to expand their credit base," he added.

The limits of withdrawal from savings bank accounts were completely removed from March 13.

--IANS

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