There is no proposal to withdraw the Rs. 2,000 notes that were introduced post demonetisation, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.
The notes were introduced along with new Rs. 500 currency after the withdrawal of Rs. 1,000 and old Rs. 500 notes from November 9, 2016.
“There is no proposal to withdraw the Rs. 2,000 note,” the Minister said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. The Rs. 1,000 and old Rs. 500 notes returned to the currency chests of the RBI amounted to Rs. 12.44 lakh crore (as on December 10, 2016).
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 after which only the final figures would be arrived at. As on March 3, 2017, the currency in circulation was Rs. 12 lakh crore and as on January 27, it was Rs. 9.921 lakh crore, he said.
''The cash recall seeks to create a new 'normal', wherein the GDP will be bigger, cleaner and real. This exercise is part of the government’s resolve to eliminate corruption, black money, counterfeit currency and terror funding. 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,” Mr. Jaitley said.
