Urjit Patel on demonetisation: Commenting on demonetisation issue for the first time ever, the RBI governor, Urjit Patel said on Sunday that he is committed to easing the genuine pain of the citizens who are honest and who have been hurt. He said that in order to take care of the situation, the printing of Rs 100 and Rs 500 notes is being carried on in full swing so as to bring the situation back to normal again.
RBI Governor, Urjit Patel on demonetisation –
“Both RBI and government have been getting the printing presses to work at capacity to get the new notes available to meet demand. RBI is interacting with the banks daily. They are telling us that the situation is gradually easing. The queues in branches and ATMs are shorter and the markets are starting to function, and there are no reported shortages of daily items of consumption.”
–RBI Governor, Urjit Patel
Patel also said that in order to better the situation, recalibration of ATMs is also being undertaken and he expressed his gratitude to the bank officials and workers who have been working extra hours to help ease out the haphazard situation.
Stating the demonetisation process to be a tedious one, he said that the process required complete logistics and more over secrecy had to be kept in order to make demonetisation a success. He said that the removal of the 86 % of currency in circulation is a very difficult thing to do, therefore it has caused some dislocation for which the government asks from the masses to bear with them for a short while as the things will fall in place pretty soon.
“People were holding high denomination notes to keep tax unaccounted for money. Some sectors like real estate were using cash to avoid tax. It also strikes at counterfeit currency and pushes businesses and people to go cashless which greatly increases convenience. Towards the last, banks have waived debit card charges“, said he.
In his first ever interview as a RBI Governor, Patel said that it was imperative to scrap the old currency of high denomination notes in order to bring in transparency and also encouraged the citizens to opt for a cashless economy and make use of debit cards digital wallets.
