Have 97% of demonetised notes returned to banks? RBI says estimates may be incorrect

New Delhi: Reacting to media reports about the quantum of demonetised currency that has been returned to the banks, the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday said that the periodical figures released by the bank were based on aggregation of accounting entries done at the large no of currency chests all over the country.

"Now that the Scheme has come to an end on December 30, 2016, these figures would need to be reconciled with the physical cash balances to eliminate accounting errors/ possible double counts etc, " the RBI said in a statement.

"RBI has already initiated this process and till this is completed any estimate may not indicate the actual numbers of the junked notes that have been returned. RBI is taking all steps to complete the process expeditiously so as to release firm figures of SBNs received at an early date, " the central bank said.

PTI has reported on Wednesday quoting sources that the Reserve Bank is believed to have received deposits close to Rs 15 lakh crore, of estimated Rs 15.4 lakh crore worth junked Rs 500/1,000 currency notes that were in circulation, from the 50-day demonetisation exercise that ended on December 30.

Both the government and the RBI are yet to come out with the official statement on how much have been deposited in various banks at the end December 30, the last date for depositing and exchange of junked Rs 500/1000 notes.