Banks have received ₹14.97 trillion rupees as of 30 December, as much as 97 percent of banned notes, Bloomberg reported today.
This means that only three percent of the banned ₹500 and ₹1,000 have not been returned, which calls into question Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim that the demonetisation drive is key to combating black money and corruption.
The government had initially estimated about ₹5 trillion rupees of the ₹15.4 trillion rupees, which was put of circulation, would be black money.
"The prime minister had been ill advised and the government was not prepared to handle the situation," said Nilakantha Rath, honorary fellow at the Indian School of Political Economy, told Bloomberg. "The government expectation has been belied."
The Business Standard also reported that the Reserve Bank of India has likely received back ₹14.5 lakh crore of the old ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes as of 30 December, which is about ₹94 percent of the money put out of circulation.
These figures suggest that the one-time windfall gain accrued to the central bank will be closer to ₹90,000 crore as of now, much less than RBI and the Modi government's initial estimates of as much as ₹3 lakh crore, BS pointed out.
The Modi government had set 30 December as the deadline for people returning the banned ₹500 and ₹1,000.
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