#Demonetisation founds its catch: Undisclosed income of Rs 7,961 crore nabbed post #Noteban

New Delhi, December 19: Demonetization was the biggest and boldest step taken by PM Modi led central government with an aim to curb corruption, black money etc. However, the step has proved to be worth as after demonetization, the Income Tax department has unearthed undisclosed income of Rs 7,961 crore from November last year to March.

 

Notably, while giving a written reply to the Lok Sabha, State Finance Minister Pon Radhakrishnan said that the Income Tax department has unearthed undisclosed income of Rs 7,961 crore post demonetization, from November last year to March.

Minister Pon Radhakrishnan further said that the department during this period conducted searches on around 900 groups, wherein assets worth over Rs 900 crore were seized and an undisclosed income of Rs 7,961 crore was admitted.

The Minister further added that as per the data available to NCRB (National Crime Record Bureau), after cancellation of legal character of specified bank notes, an amount of Rs 18.70 crore FICNs (fake Indian currency notes) have been seized by state police till November 30, 2017 as against Rs 15.70 crore seized in the year-ago period.

Interestingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8, 2016, had announced demonetization of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes in a major assault on black money, fake currency and corruption.

Rs 5,000 crore spent on printing of new Rs 500 currency notes

The State Finance Minister P Radhakrishnan in a written reply to Lok Sabha said that about Rs 5,000 crore was spent on the printing of new Rs 500 currency notes post demonetization. He further said that as many as 1,695.7 crore pieces of Rs 500 denomination note were printed till December 8. “The amount spent on the production of Rs 500 notes was Rs 4,968.84 crore,” he added.

The State Finance Minister also informed that the Reserve Bank of India 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 has been spent on the printing of 178 crore pieces of Rs 200 notes,” Minister P Radhakrishnan said. "New design notes in the denomination of Rs 50, 200, 500 and 2,000 have been introduced after demonetization," the minister concluded.

In another reply, the Minister said that the surplus transferred from the RBI to the government has declined by Rs 35,217 crore in 2016 -17 mainly on account of increase in expenditure on the printing of currency notes. “The RBI had transferred Rs 65,876 crore as surplus to the government in 2015-16. The amount reduced to Rs 30,659 crore in 2016-17,” he said.

About 99% of the scrapped currency was returned to the RBI. "Subject to future corrections, based on the verification process, the estimated value of Specified Bank Notes received as on June 30, 2017, is Rs 15.28 lakh crore," Minister P Radhakhrishnan said in reply to another question.