A day after the Union cabinet passed the ordinance on criminal liability for banned notes, the government on 29 December clarified that there would jail term but a minimum fine of Rs 10,000 will be imposed on the people for hoarding old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000.
The government said that the ordinance to penalise holders of old Rs 500 and 1000 notes will go to President Pranab Mukherjee soon and will be effective from 31 December.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India has asked the banks to provide additional working capital limit to MSMEs to deal with cash crunch following demonetisation adding that note ban can transform economy, notwithstanding inconvenience to public and momentary impact on growth.
Yesterday, the government had announced that keeping the now illegal tender of Rs 500 and 1000 after March 31 2017 will be a punishable offence.
If anybody found keeping more than 10 demonetised notes after March 31 will be punished with imprisonment for 4 years along with a fine of Rs. 50, 000.
The government officials have stated that barring the deposition of old notes will help the government to make better projections for the Union Budget 2017-18. After 30 December, people will have to deposit old notes directly to the Reserve Bank of India.
PM Narendra Modi shocked the nation when he announced his decision to scrap higher denomination currency notes on 8 November forcing the people to form serpentine queues outside banks to exchange and deposit notes.
During a rally, he asked people to give him 50 days to bring stability in the country with the move taken to deal with the black money menace. The move led to massive crunch across the country causing grave inconvenience to people. People across the nation started looking for alternatives to deal with the cash chaos.
The opposition parties have been criticising the Prime Minister for the move and the manner in which it was implemented.
