Shame on RBI that recommended demonetisation: Chidambaram
Former Finance Minister says note ban was a scheme to convert black money into white.
Mumbai: Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday lambasted the decision of demonetisation made by the Reserve Bank of India on November 8 last year.
Chidambaram blamed the central bank for loss of 1 per cent of total currency in circulation before demonetisation. According to what Chidambaram is saying, the country has lost around Rs 16,000 crore worth of currency notes or money of the same amount due to demonetisation.
An angry sounding Chidambaram 'vent' his thought saying it was shameful on RBI's part for undertaking such a loss incurring exercise, "With 1 per cent demonetised notes not returning back, shame on RBI which had recommended demonetisation," he said.
The scrapped Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes formed more than 86 per cent or around Rs 16 lakh crore worth of total currency in circulation at the time of demonetisation. It caused chaos in country and threw people in long queues outside banks and ATM machine booths.
Chidamabaram while referring to remonetisation claims that 99 per cent notes were legally exchanged. "If demonetisation was a scheme designed to convert black money into white," he asks.