Within the first eight days after Rs 500 and 1,000 currency notes were demonetised, the amount of money deposited into banks is five times that of the amount withdrawn, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday.
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The data was collected between 10 and 18 November. Within the first eight days, the exchange amounted to Rs 33,006 crore. Collectively, the total amount of old currency notes collected by the government is worth Rs 5,44,571 crore.
Of the total banknotes in circulation, Rs 500 and 1,000 notes accounted for 86.4 percent of the total value of banknote circulation, according to RBI’s annual report for the year 2015-2016.
In March 2016, the economy had 15,707 million Rs 500 notes and 6,326 million Rs 1,000 notes in circulation.
What happens to the notes collected by the government through exchange and deposits? The notes will be burnt, The Economic Times reports citing an RBI official, although News18 reports that the bank had resorted to shredding of notes to avoid pollution caused by burning the notes.
However, the job of either burning or shredding close to 22 million currency notes is bound to be a tall order.
(With inputs form The Economic Times, News18)
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