Cash still king as circulation at 99% of pre-demonetisation level: RBI data

Almost a year after the demonetisation drive, the currency in circulation, as on 16 February 2018, stood at Rs 17.78 trillion (Rs 17.78 lakh crore), according to a Live Mint report. Before November 8, 2016, the total currency with the Indian public, according to RBI data, was Rs 17.97 trillion. The demonetisation drive sucked Rs 14.48 trillion out of the system.

This means that as of 16 February, 99.94 per cent of the currency is back in circulation. During a short span from November 9 to December 31, 2016, the Reserve Bank pumped in 23.8 billion pieces of bank notes into circulation aggregating Rs 5,540 billion in value. Nearly half the currency notes circulated by the Reserve Bank of India during the first nine months of 2017-18 were of smaller denomination, such as Rs 200, Rs 100 and below. This is in line with the government's move to push digitisation and encourage people to do digital banking for high-value transfers. As on June 16, 2017, the currency in circulation stood at Rs 15.29 trillion (Rs 15.29 lakh crore), or 86.2 per cent of the pre-demonetisation level, according to a Business Standard report.