JOIN US'Rs 2,000 notes form 43.22% of FY20's unaccounted cash'
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said, "the percentage of unaccounted cash seized in denomination of Rs 2,000, out of the total cash seized, is 67.91%, 65.93% and 43.22% in financial years 2017-18, 2018-19 and the current financial year till date, respectively."
She was citing Income Tax data based on search cases involving cash seizures of more than Rs 5 crore in the last three financial years, which says that almost half of the unaccounted cash seized during this fiscal was of the maximum denomination value i.e Rs 2,000 notes.
“To bring transparency in the source of funding to political parties, the provisions of section 13A of the Act have been amended to inter alia provide that no donations of Rs 2,000 or more shall be received otherwise than by an account payee cheque drawn on a bank or an account payee bank draft or use of electronic clearing system through a bank account or through electoral bonds,” the Union minister said in her reply.
Rs. 2,000 notes came into circulation in November 2016, post the implementation of demonetisation on Oct. 8 of that year.
The issue of demonetisation of the new currency came up when former Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said, "A good chunk of Rs 2,000 notes are actually not in circulation, having been hoarded. Therefore, Rs 2,000 note, is not presently working as a currency of the transaction."
“It can be demonetised, without causing any disruption. A simple method, depositing these notes in the bank accounts (no counter replacement), can be used to manage the process,” he said.