business

Can’t disclose the names involved in demonitization- RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it cannot disclose who all, exactly, were part of the decision making process in the run up to the demonetisation announcement on 8 November, 2016. This information is ‘sensitive’ and is exempt from the RTI Act, the central bank said responding to an RTI query filed by Firstpost.
Further, the RBI said “the matter regarding the withdrawal of the legal tender character of banknotes is governed by the provisions of Section 26 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on 8 November. This constituted about 86 percent of the total currency in circulation at that point or about Rs 15.44 lakh crore.
“The information sought relates to sensitive matters pertaining to discontinuation of discontinuation/ withdrawal of bank notes. The information is exempt from disclosure under section 8(1) (a) of RTI Act, 2005,” the RBI said.
In January, the RBI Governor Urjit Patel had said before a Parliamentary panel that the central bank had issued new currency notes worth Rs 9.2 lakh crore but didn’t clarify on the volume of cash deposits banking system received post demonetisation saying the counting process is still on.
Various government and private agencies, both Indian and foreign, had predicted a sharp decline in the GDP in the aftermath of note ban. But, on a positive note, the note ban gave a push to non-cash transactions in the weeks post the announcement with more people, facing cash crunch, moving to card and electronic payments.
Demonetisation, launched with the originally stated objective of clamping down on black money, fake currency and corruption, triggered a chaos in the country with cash crunch in the following two months, some of which has eased by now, but the impact on multiple sectors still present.
In an earlier RTI-based report, the RBI had said that it recommended demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1,000 notes hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced it. “The recommendation was made in the meeting of the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India held in New Delhi on 8 November, 2016,” the RBI said.
Also, the apex bank doesn’t have information on the number of illegal bank accounts found since the note ban. Black money hoarders might have opened such accounts to push their ill-gotten wealth to the banking system.

Show More

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button