Demonetisation: More cash seizures, no end to cash crunch

With banks remaining closed, the long queues outside ATMs continued on Sunday. Most returned empty handed even after a long wait. The IT raids across the country continued as people have curiously managed to stash both demonetised and new notes.

Delhi Police has seized nearly Rs 13.5 crore in a raid at a law firm in southeast Delhi’s GK-I area, of which Rs 2.6 crore is in new currency released after demonetisation, a senior police official said Sunday. The raid was carried out by Crime Branch at the office of T&T law firm on Saturday night, the officer said. 

According to I-T department sources, the lawyer had recently declared unaccounted income worth over Rs 125 crore after searches were carried out against him.

Meanwhile, retired employees have been roped in by the Bank Note Press (BNP) at Dewas in Madhya Pradesh to meet the demand for new currency following the cash recall exercise which has triggered a huge liquidity crunch.

The facility, managed by Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL), is working round-the-clock to help tide over the cash crisis.

Several consignments were sent to Delhi, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Guwahati, Kanpur, Bengaluru, Indore and Bhopal since then, he said.

Demonetisation of high-value currency notes has forced players in the Indian fashion industry to rework their business strategy in the face of growing competition from international brands.

Designer Raghavendra Rathore said with the November 8 move adversely impacting the real estate sector, a shake-out phase is on in the significantly cash-driven fashion industry, which is now seeing a paradigm shift and a clean-up following the advent of more transparent transactions.