Banned Notes Deposited Reach 84.3% of Official Issue

·     Surrendered Notes may Exceed Total Notes Issued (with 21 more Days left for Surrender)

·     Little “Black Money” Unearthed, A Case of Much Ado over Nothing?

·     Recycling of Notes Leaked from Bank Vaults Alleged

The government expects the entire money in circulation in the form of currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 so that the tax authority can trace the transactions and tax black money hoarders, Revenue Secretary, Hasmukh Adhia said on 6 Dec. The Government has officially admitted that there is no chance of a windfall gain from demonetised currency remaining outside the banking system.

Latest figures show that

The SBI had estimated that Rs 2.5 lakh crore may not return to the system. Leading to speculation of substantial gains to the government considering that this would lower the liabilities of the RBI.

An estimated Rs 12.6 lakh crore has been deposited in banks so far and if the all the high-value notes in circulation comes back to the banking system, the exercise of demonetisation spread over 50 days is futile.

The Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy or CMIE, an economic forecasting agency, has pegged the cost of demonetisation for 50 days from November 8 to Dec 30 at Rs 1,28,000 crore which includes loss of business or sales, cost to households, the expenses for printing fresh currency notes to the government and the RBI besides for banks.

“Do you think that by simply depositing money in the bank account makes black money into white? It doesn’t. It will become white when we charge taxes, when the Income Tax department can reach up to them by issuing a notice and questioning them…

Adhia said that government agencies will also take action against bankers and others who are colluding with black money hoarders to illegally convert the abolished currency into legal tender.

Quantity and Value of SBN Issue before Demonetisation of 8 Nov 2016

Notes (Rs.)

Qty

Share

Value (Rs.)

Share

500

1650

71.1%

825000

55%

1000

670

28.9

670000

45%

Total

2320

 

1495000

 

SBN = Specified Bank Note of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 Demonetised by GoI Notification.

Source: ABS Database