Demonetisation achieved its objectives quite substantially, says finance ministry

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday said demonetisation of high-value currency notes in November 2016 achieved the objectives “quite substantially”, even as the RBI report outlined that 99.3 percent of junked notes came back to banks. Talking to reporters here, Economic Affairs Secretary S C Garg said objectives of the note ban, like checking black money, terror financing, promoting digital transaction and weeding out fake currency notes have been achieved. [caption id=“attachment_3177384” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI.[/caption] “I think demonetisation has achieved its objective quite substantially,” he said in reply to a question in this regard. According to the RBI’s annual report released on Wednesday, as much as 99.3 percent of the junked Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes have returned to the banking system. The secretary also stressed that now there was no shortage of currency in any part of the country. On 8 November, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the demonetisation of high-value currency notes. Of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in circulation on 8 November, 2016, when the note ban was announced, notes worth Rs 15.31 lakh crore have been returned. This meant just Rs 10,720 crore of the junked currency did not return to the banking system.