Cash in circulation up 83% since note ban

NEW DELHI: Six years after the shock move to ban 86% of the currency in circulation, cash is still the king with official data showing close to doubling of cash with the public.

The value of the currency in circulation (or public holding of cash) stood at Rs 32.4 lakh crore as on December 23, 2022, according to Reserve Bank data. This compares to Rs 17.7 lakh crore worth of notes in circulation on November 4, 2016, days before PM Narendra Modi announced outlawing of old 1,000 and 500 rupee notes to target black money and fight corruption.
Notes in circulation fell to about Rs 9 lakh crore after demonetisation.

Compared with January 6, 2017, the cash in circulation has seen a more than 3-fold or 260% jump, while from November 4, 2016, it has seen about 83% rise.
After the shock announcement, the government gave a limited-time window for the public to return the banned currency. According to the Reserve Bank of Indiaalmost the entire amount of currency withdrawn was turned in.

The total value of notes returned by the public was Rs 15.3 lakh crore or 99.3% of the total of Rs 15.4 lakh crore of notes in circulation on November 8, 2016.