Fully ready for post-December 30 situation: Finance Minister

“There was full preparedness. There was not a single day when RBI had not released adequate currency to banks. There was a certain level of currency that was to be released and there was full preparedness for it,” Jaitley told reporters. He said RBI has maintained the stock of currency through advance as well as current printing level. “Today also RBI has more than adequate stock not only to last them till December 30 but to last them far beyond that,” he said. Asked about the currency in circulation, Jaitley said the figures will be made public only after accurate calculation after December 30, the last date for depositing the scrapped currency in banks.

“The currency which got printed might have gone to Post Offices and from there to banks and again back to currency chest so there could be double counting and scope for inaccuracies. So, we do not want to guess the figures,” he said. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the currency situation has considerably improved since November 8 and there is adequate currency with RBI to meet the demand till December 30.

Several new and large discrepancies have emerged in the stated positions of the RBI and the government on the printing and distribution of new currencies. They also show substantial divergence in figures given by the central banker and those given by the government in Parliament.  On November 28, the RBI announced that the public had withdrawn Rs 2.16 lakh crore in new notes from accounts or ATMs till November 27. 

However, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Finance, Arjun Ram Meghwal, stated that, by November 29, 160.8 crore pieces of Rs 2,000 and 15.6 crore pieces of Rs 500 had been supplied — a total of 176 crore pieces amounting to a little over Rs 3.29 lakh crore. Based on the figures, the government’s number implies that the currency disbursal had shot up by over Rs 1.13 lakh crore in just two days. This, when the RBI had supplied Rs 2.16 lakh crore in 17 days till then — at an average of only Rs 12,700 crore a day.

The central government has been putting out advertisements in the media offering various ‘benefits’ to people who opt for transactions online.

However, a status check by DTNext revealed that people who took the online route to banking transactions were shocked as the existing charges continued to be levied by banks on every transaction. Even the waiver of service tax ordered by the government, post-demonetisation, has not been passed on to the people as the bank transaction details show service tax and transaction fee levied on every transaction. 

“When I booked rail tickets using internet banking, the bank still charged service tax and also an additional Rs. 10 towards transaction charges. When I contacted the IRCTC call centre officials, they said that the charges have been levied by the bank,” R Indu, a resident of Anna Nagar told this newspaper. 

“When I booked a bus ticket to Kerala, the price offered by the transport service provider was Rs 1,225. However, when I made the payment using internet banking, the total amount was Rs 1,299. I have no idea why there is an increase of Rs.74 for that transaction,” Hari Govind, a resident of Virugambakkam said. 

“When I contacted my bank for the extra charges they levied on my transaction, they said the amount would be credited back in 10 working days. However, when I checked my bank statement for the last one month, I did not see any such refunds being made,” Sree Kumar a scheduled bank customer said. The customers who book rail tickets online lose the service charge and transaction fee even if the ticket is cancelled by the Railways.

“A waiting list e-ticket is cancelled automatically after the chart preparation. However, the customer gets only the original ticket charge as he would lose the transaction fee and service charge for no fault of his. So what is the benefit that the government is offering on cashless transactions?” Krishna Mohan, another frequent train traveller wondered. Commenting on the issue, a retired official of a nationalised bank, observed that service tax was still being deducted by private banks. 

“However, the government’s instructions will be meticulously followed. The credit due to the customer will be done accordingly without any compromise from the date of notification,” he said. Pointing out that any decision could not be implemented overnight, he said that even a reversal of charges for a customer, in case of a transaction, can be done only if the necessary adjustments can be effected in the software programme.