<p>Eight of 10 members of the RBI’s central board had advised the government to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, the bank’s governor Urjit Patel said on Friday.<br /><br />Just a few hours<br /></p>.<p>The board met at 5.30 pm on November 8, just two-and-a-half hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the dramatic note ban announcement, Patel told Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Congress leader K V Thomas.<br />Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram had claimed only three directors had backed the demonetisation decision, raising questions over the autonomy of the central bank.<br /><br />The board meeting was attended by Governor Patel, deputy governors R Gandhi and S S Mundra, and five directors of the RBI – Nachiket Mor, Bharat N Doshi, Sudhir Mankad, Shaktikanta Das and Anjuly Chib Duggal.<br /><br />‘Strategic reasons’<br />Patel informed the committee that deputy governor N S Vishwanathan, also a member of the board, had stayed back in Mumbai for “strategic reasons” to brief bankers personally immediately after the decision was taken. <br /><br />Another director, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, was abroad at the time of the meeting.<br />Members of the PAC wanted the RBI to probe “abnormal transactions” seen in co-operative banks after demonetisation was announced.<br /><br />Members gave examples of how new bank accounts had been opened by co-operative banks, and dormant accounts were flush with funds after November 8.<br /><br />Patel said the income tax department had seized Rs 474.37 crore between November 9, 2016, and January 4, 2017, of which Rs 112.29 crore was in new currency.<br /><br />He also said no counterfeit currency notes (in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination) <br />had been seized by agencies under the Central Board of Excise and Customs between November 8 and December 30, 2016.<br /></p>
<p>Eight of 10 members of the RBI’s central board had advised the government to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, the bank’s governor Urjit Patel said on Friday.<br /><br />Just a few hours<br /></p>.<p>The board met at 5.30 pm on November 8, just two-and-a-half hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the dramatic note ban announcement, Patel told Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Congress leader K V Thomas.<br />Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram had claimed only three directors had backed the demonetisation decision, raising questions over the autonomy of the central bank.<br /><br />The board meeting was attended by Governor Patel, deputy governors R Gandhi and S S Mundra, and five directors of the RBI – Nachiket Mor, Bharat N Doshi, Sudhir Mankad, Shaktikanta Das and Anjuly Chib Duggal.<br /><br />‘Strategic reasons’<br />Patel informed the committee that deputy governor N S Vishwanathan, also a member of the board, had stayed back in Mumbai for “strategic reasons” to brief bankers personally immediately after the decision was taken. <br /><br />Another director, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, was abroad at the time of the meeting.<br />Members of the PAC wanted the RBI to probe “abnormal transactions” seen in co-operative banks after demonetisation was announced.<br /><br />Members gave examples of how new bank accounts had been opened by co-operative banks, and dormant accounts were flush with funds after November 8.<br /><br />Patel said the income tax department had seized Rs 474.37 crore between November 9, 2016, and January 4, 2017, of which Rs 112.29 crore was in new currency.<br /><br />He also said no counterfeit currency notes (in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination) <br />had been seized by agencies under the Central Board of Excise and Customs between November 8 and December 30, 2016.<br /></p>
