HYDERABAD: A day after it was revealed that more than 99 per cent demonetised notes returned to the banking system, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said on Thursday that the job of finding which is black money and which is white must be left to the Reserve Bank of India and the Income Tax Department.
“I saw a report today (Thursday) in the newspapers saying that the entire money has come back to the bank. I don’t know why people are worried about it. I am very happy that the money has come back to the bank,” he claimed speaking at an event organised by the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.
“I don’t want to get into a political debate. If people are converting black money into white, fine. That is also allowed by the Parliament, na? Pay the tax so that the money can be spent for development of people,” he said. Interestingly, immediately after the note ban was announced, supporters of the move had claimed the government would make a windfall profit ranging between Rs 6 and Rs 9 lakh crore.
This would happen because hoarders of black money will not be able to return their stashed currency as banks had put a ceiling on the amount that can be returned as cash. This windfall profit, these experts were hoping, would be used to boost the markets in the form of key rate cuts.
However, it has now been revealed that the money that did not return is a mere Rs 10,000 crore. In fact, the cost of printing new notes was way above this at over Rs 12,000 crore. The RBI data has evoked sharp criticism from opposition parties.