The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said counting machines are "not being used" for tallying the total number of demonetised notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in any of its offices, according to an RTI reply.
The central bank also refused to give the total number of personnel deployed for counting of the scrapped notes, saying compiling the information would "disproportionately divert" its resources.
In its annual report for 2016-17 released on August 30, the RBI had said Rs 15.28 lakh crore, or 99 per cent of the demonetised 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, have returned to the banking system.
The central bank in the annual report, which was for the year ended June 30, 2017, said that only Rs 16,050 crore out of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore in the old high denomination notes have not returned.
As on November 8, 2016, when the noteban was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there were 1,716.5 crore pieces of Rs 500 and 685.8 crore pieces of Rs 1,000 notes in circulation, totalling Rs 15.44 lakh crore, it had said.
"Counting machines are not being used for the purpose in any offices of Reserve Bank of India," the RBI said in the RTI reply dated August 10.
The central bank also said no counting machines were taken on lease to reconcile the total figure of the junked notes.
It was asked to give details about machines being used for counting the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
The central bank also denied sharing information on the total number of personnel deployed for counting of the old notes.
"Compiling the information would disproportionately divert the resources, the information sought cannot be furnished as per Section 7 (9) of RTI Act, 2005," the RBI said in its reply to the RTI query filed by a
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11:39 AM IST