Rs 12.44 trillion has been collected at banks till date

More than a month after the demonetisation decision to ban old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes to curb black money and counterfeit bills and take India toward cashless economy, there seems to be no end to the cash crunch and there is frustration, anger and chaos amongst the public at large due to the long-winding queues for withdrawal of cash at the bank branches and ATMs across the country.

As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about Rs 12.44 trillion (Rs 12,44,000 crore) have been collected at banks in demonetised notes as of 13 December. RBI has printed almost Rs 200 billion worth of smaller denomination notes and will inject significant amount of currency in the coming days.

Meanwhile, one RBI official was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Bengaluru for helping to convert banned currency notes. The RBI official was involved in a case where he tried to exchange Rs 1.5 crore of untaxed money.

Last week, the government announced measures to encourage cashless transactions in the country. People can now avail 0.75 per cent discount on the use of debit and credit cards, e-wallets and prepaid loyalty cards at petrol pumps of public sector undertakings. The buyers will get the discount as a cash back which will be credited to their accounts three days after the transaction.

Demonetisation has affected the economy and raised fears of a slowdown. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) became the first multilateral agency to reduce India’s growth forecast for FY17 to 7 per cent from 7.4 per cent estimated earlier in the backdrop of government’s demonetisation decision.