About Rs 2 lakh cr deposited in banks till Saturday afternoon: Jaitley

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said around Rs 2 lakh crore has been deposited till 12.15 pm on Saturday in banks across the country, following demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

New Delhi, Nov 12 Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said around Rs 2 lakh crore has been deposited till 12.15 pm on Saturday in banks across the country, following demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

"The largest banker in the country State Bank of India (SBI) saw deposits of Rs 47,868 crore till Saturday afternoon," Jaitley said while briefing the media here.

He said SBI's deposit is around 20 per cent of the total deposits in all the banks in the country.

Jaitley also said that despite allegations by opposition parties that there was spike in bank deposits leading up to the demonetisation announcement, no such spike has been seen in any month, except September 2016.

"That month the increase was because of money released on account of the Seventh Pay Commission payments," he added.

Therefore, there is no substance in the allegations that information about demonetisation was leaked.

Meanwhile, long queues were seen outside banks and ATMs for the third consecutive day today.

People faced a great deal of inconvenience as several ATMs went dry yesterday due to cash crunch.

In a bid to ease the situation, government has extended the use of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for utility bills till November 14.

In a major attempt to tackle hoarding of black money, corruption and terror financing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on November 8, announced that all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 rupee notes would cease to be valid in all forms of transactions.

(With IANS inputs)