Will release numbers on junked notes at earliest: RBI

Putting to rest speculation on quantum of scrapped notes deposited in banks and post offices, the RBI on Thursday said it is reconciling invalid currency to physical balance and will release the numbers at the earliest. The Reserve Bank’s clarification on the Specified Bank Notes comes in the backdrop of various reports estimating that over 95 % of the defunct notes have been returned till Dec 30. 

“There had been various estimates on SBNs tendered in certain sections. We would like to clarify that the periodical SBN figures released by us were based on aggregation of accounting entries done at the large number of Currency Chests all over the country,” the RBI said.