Reserve Bank of India officials told the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee here on Friday that the central bank was working on ways to reduce the cost of online transactions.
RBI Governor Urjit Patel, Deputy Governor R. Gandhi and other senior officials of the central bank appeared before the parliamentary committee for well over three hours for oral evidence on ‘Review of Monetary Policy’.
Sources said that Mr. Patel told the members that demonetisation would have a positive impact on the economy in the long run. He told the members that adverse impacts on the economy and people were just ‘short-term’ phenomena and things would get better, said a member of the panel.
He reportedly told members that the cash flow situation was improving fast, that people could withdraw up to ₹96,000 a month — substantially “above” what they usually withdrew — and that they could anyway make cheque payments for large amounts.
The RBI Governor faced a number of questions, ranging from who took the decision to demonetise to how much of the ₹15.44-lakh crore withdrawn from the system had returned to banks, something he had been asked even by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and to which he had said that calculations were still on.
Sources said that one member actually produced before Mr. Patel what he claimed was a fake, new currency note, surprising members but evoking no reaction from the RBI Governor.
BJP member Nishikant Dubey — sources said — tried to turn the discussion away from demonetisation by saying that the meeting was about review of monetary policy.
Claiming that this was not identical with a meet on demonetisation, Mr. Dubey said demonetisation was a small aspect of monetary policy.
“Many written questions were also handed over to Mr. Patel, which he had the option to reply to in writing,” said a member.
PTI reported PAC Chairman K.V. Thomas as saying that the committee would meet again on February 10 to discuss issues with Finance Ministry officials. He added that the RBI Governor could be called again after February 10, if required, the agency reported.
