Mumbai, Aug 29: Over 99 per cent of the Rs 15.3 lakh crore taken out of circulation through demonetisation in November 2016 has returned to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the central bank announced on Wednesday.
The RBI's annual report 2017-18 said that on completion of the process of verification of the scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, it is found that the total value of the demonetised currency returned to the banks now stands at Rs 15.3 lakh crore, which amounts to 99.3 per cent of the Rs 15.4 lakh crore worth of such notes in circulation on November 8, 2016.
"The total value of SBNs (specified banknotes) returned from circulation is Rs 15,310.73 billion," the report said.
"The total value of SBNs in circulation as on November 8, 2016, post verification and reconciliation, was Rs 15,417.93 billion."
The RBI also said the value of banknotes in circulation stands at 18 lakh crore till the end of the last fiscal.
"The value of banknotes in circulation increased by 37.7 per cent over the year to Rs 18,037 billion at March-end 2018," it said.
Besides, notes issued by the RBI in the one-year period between June 2017 and June 2018 increased by nearly 27 per cent.
"The notes issued increased by 26.93 per cent from Rs 15,063.31 billion as on June 30, 2017 to Rs 19,119.60 billion as on June 30, 2018," the report said.
"The increase is on account of the continued efforts of the Reserve Bank to supply adequate quantity of banknotes to meet the transactional needs of the public," it added.
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Guwahati, Mar 29: A VVPAT machine was reported missing in Assam's Udalguri district on Friday, an official statement said.
The Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine could not be found during assembly-wise segregation after the first randomisation, it said.
A joint electoral officer was deputed to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the matter, the statement issued by the Chief Electoral Officer said.
After first-level checking of EVMs and VVPATs, the machines that were found to be working were kept in a strong room in the presence of representatives of political parties, the statement said.
"The strong room has 24x7 CCTV coverage and armed security, and there is no question of any missing unit, due to the stringent storage and security protocol with the participation of the political parties at every stage," it said, after the preliminary inquiry.
The missing VVPAT might have been inadvertently shifted to the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) factory along with units that were found non-functional during first-level checking, the statement said.
The matter has been taken up with the ECIL authorities, it added.
Strict action will be taken if any dereliction of duty is found on the part of district officers concerned, the statement said.