Deposit Spike Report Goes Viral; Arun Jaitley Offers Explanation

A CNBC-TV18 report that points out the increase in the rate of deposits in banks across India has gone viral.

Millions of panicked people lined up outside banks and ATMs across India on Friday to exchange scrapped banknotes. (Photo: Reuters)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘surgical strike’ on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes has been the reason for much celebration and despair.

However, a CNBC-TV18 report that points out the increase in the rate of deposits in banks across India, months prior to the PM’s demonetisation, has gone viral.

Banks that had shown negative deposit growth in previous quarters, suddenly had good growth rates in the July-September quarter. The report asks if some people were in the know of this “sudden” demonetisation move.

Also, a photograph of the new 2,000 rupee note, circulated among select WhatsApp groups, had appeared earlier in September this year, two months before Modi’s announcement. By October, it had gone viral on Twitter.

“According to businessmen, economists, and tax experts interviewed by The Quint, the photograph was the most tangible signal in a steady trickle of news, leaks, market intelligence and rumours that demonetisation would be the next step taken by the government after the voluntary income disclosure scheme ended.”

Also Read: Before PM’s Announcement, Rumours of Demonetisation Abounded

How did photographs of the new Rs 2,000 notes, printed in such secrecy, leak into the public domain? And if businessmen knew that the new notes were printed and ready for dispatch, what else did they know?

Also read: Cleaning the Indian Rupee: Cash-Only Businesses of Old Delhi

Kejriwal’s ‘Proof’ Against Demonetisation

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Saturday morning that he had ‘evidence’ to show that the demonetisation move by the Modi government is a scam.

In the press conference, Kejriwal played the same CNBC report as ‘evidence’ and then went on to give a timeline of how the Rs 2,000 note had been leaked.

Also Read: PM Modi, Demonetisation ‘Brahmastra’ Could’ve Avoided Hurting Poor

Arun Jaitley Offers An Explanation

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addressed the press on the issue of demonetisation and said that re-calibrating the ATMs will take two to three weeks, on Saturday.

He said that the marginal spike in bank deposits in SBI was only for September 2016, because of the release of Pay Commission's salary arrears on 31 August.

Jaitley also spoke about the technical difficulties that the banks have been going through in re-calibrating the ATMs according to the new notes. He also said that this process could not have been done in advance because it was important to maintain the secrecy of the operation.

Also read: We Didn’t Re-Calibrate All ATMs for Secrecy’s Sake: Arun Jaitley