Fair Lending
The government’s proposal to clamp down on unauthorised private lending practices signals a decisive move to tackle unregulated financial activities that have long preyed on vulnerable segments of the population.
The government has informed the Lok Sabha that about Rs 5,000 crore was spent on printing of new Rs 500 currency notes post demonetisation.
As per the information provided by Minister of State for Finance P Radhakrishnan in a written reply, as many as 1,695.7 crore pieces of Rs 500 denomination note were printed till December 8. The amount spent on production of Rs 500 notes was Rs 4,968.84 crore, he said.
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The minister also informed that the RBI printed 365.4 crore pieces of Rs 2,000 notes. The cost incurred is about Rs 1,293.6 crore. Similarly, Rs 522.83 crore have been spent on printing of 178 crore pieces of Rs 200 notes.
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“New design notes in the denomination of Rs 50, 200, 500 and 2,000 have been introduced after demonetisation,” the minister said.
In another reply, he said the surplus transfered from the RBI to the government has declined by Rs 35,217 crore in 2016 -17 mainly on account of increase in expenditure on printing of currency notes.
The RBI had transfered Rs 65,876 crore as surplus to the government in 2015-16. The amount reduced to Rs 30,659 crore in 2016-17.
The government on November 8, 2016 announced to demonetise old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, which together accounted for about 86 per cent of the currency in circulation. About 99 per cent of the scrapped currency was returned to the RBI.
“Subject to future corrections, based on verification process, the estimated value of Specified Bank Notes (scrapped currency) received as on June 30, 2017 is Rs 15.28 lakh crore,” the minister said in reply to another question.
As part of its remonetisation exercise, the Reserve Bank came out new notes of Rs 500 and Rs 50. It also introduced notes of Rs 2,000 and Rs 200.
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