NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India will remove restrictions on cash withdrawals after assessing market situation, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday even as he ruled out interfering with the conditions barring anyone other than NRIs and Indians returning from abroad from depositing the junked notes in select central bank branches.
“RBI will decide by assessing market situation. Many a time, actions are taken in phases, so relaxations are also done in phases,” he said when asked by when restrictions on cash withdrawals are expected to be removed.
Currently, an account holder is allowed to withdraw `24,000 per week from the counters and `4,500 per day from ATM.
To a question on people not being able to avail the facility due to some genuine reasons, the Finance Minister said this facility was available for everyone and he would not like to interfere with the criteria set by the RBI.
Without committing to any easing of the restrictions for those who failed to avail the window, he said, “People in large number have already exchanged. Only a few are left... we don’t go by... Whatever reason, the RBI has fixed their own criteria. At least, I will respect that criteria.”
Jaitley also noted that the Prime Minister had specifically mentioned that RBI will fix terms and conditions. “The word terms and conditions was part of Prime Minister’s address,” he stressed. “They can go to specified offices of the RBI up to March 31, 2017 and deposit the notes after submitting a declaration form,” he added.