Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the whole process of remonetisation of new notes that began after scrapping Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes on November 8, is almost complete now. He also said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is closely monitoring cash supply position on a daily basis.
Talking about the amount of scrapped currency received by banks post demonetisation, Minister said that RBI Governor Urjit Patel had recently informed that the central bank would disclose the figure only after completing the process of currency verification. Jaitley further said that a cash economy has many vices as it leads to crime and tax evasion. Hence, he said that there was a need to change the way trade and commerce is undertaken in the country.
Meanwhile, the government had withdrawn legal tender character of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes with an aim to curb corruption, make efforts to recover ‘black’ or unaccounted money and use it for schemes for the welfare of the poor. To promote cashless transactions, the government is now pushing and incentivising digital payments.