KOLHAPUR: Eight district central cooperative banks in Maharashtra have roughly Rs 101.2 crore of demonetised currency lying with them for the past nine years.
The banks are struggling to keep the cash safe. They spray anti-termite chemicals on the currency notes every three months, and secure them in separate rooms.
With Rs 25.3 crore, the Kolhapur DCC bank has the highest amount of demonetised money in Rs 500 denomination currency notes. Kolhapur DCC bank is followed by the Pune DCC bank, which has Rs 22.2 crore demonetised notes.
The managing director of one of the eight DCC banks told TOI that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) refused to accept the cash, stating that it was not deposited within the timeframe allowed post-demonetisation. "We paid the depositors to whom the cash belonged in new currency. The cache of demonetised currency has now become a liability and may have to be shown as a loss unnecessarily if the RBI refuses to exchange it," said the MD.
After demonetisation, the DCC banks were allowed to accept deposits of demonetised notes — Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations. However, citing concerns over the lack of compliance and potential money laundering issues, the RBI stopped DCC banks from accepting the money. In June 2017, govt allowed the DCC banks to exchange the money only if it was deposited with them within the window opened by the RBI in Nov 2016.
At that time, the 31 DCC banks had Rs 2,270 crore in demonetised currency, with the Pune DCC bank having the highest amount with Rs 811 crore, followed by Satara with Rs 399 crore.
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