New Delhi:
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday addressed the media in response to the persistent issues faced by public in the process of exchanging old defunct currency notes with valid denominations.
Here are the excerpts from Jaitley's press conference on currency exchange -
# The long-term advantages of this scheme are to the economy.
# Chip in the Rs 2000 note and the scarcity of #salt are concocted rumours.
# SBI alone has got Rs 47,868 cr deposits in last two days; total deposits in all the banks must be Rs 2-2.25 lakh cr.
# We are trying to ensure that everyone pays taxes on the money they have earned.
# Marginal hike in bank deposits was only for Sept 2016, reason being the release of Pay Commission's salary arrears.
# I appeal that during this transitional phase, people should make as many transactions digitally since this is what the new system demands.
# Currency chest has sufficient cash, which is being transported to banks and post offices.
# I request people to move towards electronic money through cheques, cards and other digital transactions.
# It is a big regret that people are being inconvenienced.
# If anyone indulges in improper and unlawful activities, concerned departments are going to take it up.
# The objective of the scheme is clean money and clean transactions.
# If anyone indulges in improper and unlawful activities, concerned departments are going to take it up.
# We accept that people have been very patient, even banks are also working well to tackle this situation.
# First few days will cause inconvenience but there will be long term advantage to the economy.
# If anyone indulges in improper and unlawful activities, concerned departments are going to take it up.
# All currency chests have sufficient money.
# It will take 2-3 weeks times to re-calibrate 2 lakh ATMs for vend out new Rs 2000 and Rs 500 notes.
# Allegations like bank deposit surged are baseless.
# The spike in bank deposits was due to the distribution of arrears due from the 7th pay commission.
# People in large numbers, are depositing, withdrawing and exchanging currency.
# ATM machines were calibrated for 500 and 1000 Rs notes, will be recaliberated eventually to accommodate new currency notes.
# The ATMs have not been re-calibrated for new Rs. 2000 currency note; the process is on.
# Different political reactions are coming in, some of which are really irresponsible.
# It was not possible for us to inform about this decision in advance, as we had to maintain its secrecy as well.
# It was not possible for us to relay this decision in advance, as we also had to maintain its secrecy as well.
# It was expected that there will be some difficulty for the first few days as 86% currency is changed.
# Finance Ministry constantly monitoring currency replacement.
# Bank officials working from morning to late night, people are also cooperating well despite all difficulties.
# Notes exchanged by SBI of 58 lakh people till 12:15 today.
# SBI bank has alone completed 2 crore 28 lakh transactions in last two days, be it for deposit, exchange or any other form.
# We accept that people have been very patient, even banks are also working well to tackle this situation.
# SBI contributes around 20 to 25 percent of Banking operation: FM Arun Jaitley on demonetisation issue.
# 54370 Crores monitory transactions in the SBI; 47868 Crores have been deposited in the SBI.
# The goverment on Nov 8 banned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes to curb black money and corruption in India.
