Banks are believed to have received deposits worth Rs 14.5 lakh crore of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations that were in circulation before they were demonetised. This is 94% of the total amount in the high-value bills that were scrapped on November 8, according to Business Standard.
Officials who came to the figure, however, said the Reserve Bank of India was in the process of cross-checking the number and is expected to announce the final tally of the deposits made soon, PTI reported. The 50-day window for citizens to exchange or deposit the old notes since the currency ban move ended on December 30.
The final figure is expected to be higher as those who were abroad between November 9 and December 30 have till March 30 to deposit the scrapped notes, while Non-Resident Indians can make the deposits till June 30. In addition to this extra cash, the Finance Ministry has identified a number of areas where there could have been “double counting”, which the RBI has been asked to verify.
On December 10, the central bank had said that Rs 12.44 lakh crore in the old notes had been exchanged or deposited. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, however, kept his response vague when questioned about the figures during a press briefing after the Goods and Services Tax Council meeting on Wednesday.
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