Currency In Circulation Rises To Rs 21 Lakh Crore As On March 2019: Anurag Thakur

New Delhi, December 10: Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur in a written reply in the Lok Sabha said the currency in circulation increased over Rs 21 lakh crore in FY19, from Rs 13 lakh crore at the end of FY17. The value of total notes in circulation as at the end of March 2019 stood at Rs 21,10,900 crore.

However, in FY18, the notes in circulation were Rs 18,03,700 crore; while it stood at Rs 13,10,200 crore in FY17. The value of total notes in circulation in the Indian economy stood at Rs 16,415 billion as FY16.

On November 8, 2016 the government announced demonetisation taking high-value notes in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 out of circulation. The aim was to curb the flow of black money in the economy, give impetus to digital transactions and stop circulation of counterfeit currency. 

The question was raised in the Parliament if currency notes circulation has increased post demonetisation.

Thakur was also asked about the purposed elimination of total cash from the market, Thakur putting a stop to all the speculations said: “No such proposal regarding total elimination of cash from the market is under consideration of the government."

As per the RBI's much-delayed report on how much of the junked currency was returned by the public, it was found that 99.3 per cent of the invalid Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes returned to the banking system.

The RBI data on return of junked currency notes was published in its Annual Report for 2017-18. Of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in circulation on November 8, 2016, currency notes worth Rs 15.31 lakh crore were returned.

On being asked about the effect of digital adoption of currency in the past one year, Thakur said that there has been no formal assessment conducted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information technology.

"However, the statistics of e-transactions on the e-Taal platform gives an indication of increase in digital penetration and usage of e-Government tools in India. More than 1,454 crore e-transactions have been recorded for 3,702 services since January 2019," the minister said.

The numbers and the data also show the exponentially rising digital transactions in India. Digital transactions in India increased by 55 per cent last year, compared with 48 per cent in China and 23 per cent in Indonesia, according to data from the Bank of International Settlement.