Big jump in tax receipts after note ban, new notes being printed quickly: FM

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that remonetisation of currency following the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes has ‘advanced substantially’.

Jaitley said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has large amounts of currency available, and that more and more Rs 500 notes are being printed. He also said that a large part of the value of demonetised currency has already been replaced.

"The critical part of remonetisation is now behind us. The situation will be much better going forward," he asserted.

He claimed that not a single incident of unrest had been reported since demonetisation came into force.

Criticising the Opposition, the Finance Minister said that notwithstanding what they had predicted, in all segments there has been significant increase in indirect taxes.

“The impact on tax collection is already visible. Till December 19, direct tax collection rose by 14.4%, indirect tax grew 26.2%; central excise was up by 43.3% and customs up 6%,” Jaitley asserted.

Rabi crop sowing has also risen by 6.3 per cent over the past year, he added.

Claiming that critics have been proved wrong, Jaitley said that the impact of demonetisation on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would not be as bad as predicted by them.