New Delhi: Exactly five years ago, the government in a bid to wipe out the black money went for a sudden call of demonetisation by weeding out currency notes worth 500 and 1,000 rupees.
But since November 8, 2016, the notes in circulation in value terms have inflated by 64 per cent till October 29, 2021.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data says notes in circulation (NIC) in terms of value, increased from ₹ 17.74 lakh crore on November 4, 2016 (just four days before demonetisation was announced), to ₹ 29.17 lakh crore on October 29, 2021 — an increase of 64 per cent.
This is a testimony that the demonetisation’s other purpose, i.e. promotion of digital payments, has not impacted cash transactions in the country much.
The NIC shot up by ₹ 2,28,963 crore on October 29, 2021 from ₹ 26.88 lakh crore as on October 30, 2020. The year-on-year hike on October 30, 2020, was ₹ 4,57,059 crore.
According to further RBI data, the year-on-year increase in NIC on November 1, 2019, was ₹ 2,84,451 crore.
The value and volume of banknotes in circulation had increased by 16.8 per cent and 7.2 per cent, respectively, during 2020-21 as against an increase of 14.7 per cent and 6.6 per cent respectively during 2019-20, reported NDTV.
