RBI’s own figures indicate return of 15 lakh cr of banned notes

Despite the Reserve Bank of India dismissing reports that suggested 97 per cent of the demonetised currency had returned to the bank’s coffers by December 30, its own weekly figures on “currency in circulation” indicate that this number is correct.

These figures, in fact, suggest that only Rs 54,000 crore of the notes banned on November 8 last year failed to make it back.

More worryingly, this figure has been arrived at on the assumption that no new notes were issued after December 19 — a near impossibility. This could well open up the intriguing possibility that more banned notes may have returned than were said to be in circulation.