Parliamentary Committee to question Urjit Patel on note ban today

New Delhi: The Parliament’s standing committee on finance would question the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel on demonetisation and its aftermath on Wednesday.

The committee has decided to question Patel as opposition party members on the panel were not satisfied with the documents the RBI and the finance ministry had submitted to them in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s November 8 announcement banning Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, stated official sources.

The questions would include:

• The committee members were mainly concerned about the fact that whether RBI’s autonomy was compromised by the note ban decision.
• Another issue regarding the violation of citizens’ rights over their legal money in banks, guaranteed by RBI, with withdrawal limits would also be discussed.
• According to the committee members, "The panel would like to know if the cashless economy agenda being pushed by the Centre was feasible as several major economies such as the US, Japan, the UK and Singapore have still not gone completely cashless.
• Patel would also be asked, whether the banking system was equipped to implement the note ban.
• The fact that at least 100 people reportedly lost their lives in the aftermath of the note ban and if their relatives got compensation would also be thrown at the RBI chief.
• All the concerns of the public would be raised at the meeting, stated the official sources.

The data submitted before the committee previously:

• The documents submitted before the panel by the apex bank and the ministry depicted that the Centre was alarmed at the spurt in the circulation of counterfeit Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and wanted to take immediate action.
• The panel was provided with the reports showing an increase of 76.4 per cent in the supply of fake Rs 500 notes and 109 per cent in fake Rs 1,000 notes over the previous five years.
• Fearing that the infusion of fake currency was being done by a neighbouring country to contribute to terror funding and black money, the government opted for the note ban.
• The government documents showed that the estimated fake currency in India was Rs 400 crore out of which approximately Rs 27.79 crore was seized till September 2016.
• The data also provided the figures of fake currency being Rs 43.8 crore in 2015 and Rs 41 crore in 2014.