Congress holds protest against note ban

The Income Tax department has issued notices to hundreds of charitable and religious organisations in the country enjoying exemptions on tax paid to inform it about their cash balances as of November 8 when the government demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. The notices were issued in order to keep a check on possible "accommodation" of black money of the older denomination by way of making charitable contributions or donations to these organisations.

"I support the Union government's decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes and after fight against black money, I demand action against benami properties," Nitish Kumar said during his ongoing Nischay Yatra in Madhubani district. Nitish Kumar also said the decision will force black money out.

The Madras high court sought to know from the RBI when new Rs 500 notes would be made available in Tamil Nadu to ease the present cash crunch situation following demonetisation. RBI submitted that it faced practical difficulties in transporting currency in view of seizure of over Rs 500 crore by poll authorities in Tamil Nadu two days before the May 16 Assembly election. "RBI has stopped transporting currencies through private agencies. Now it is made only through government agencies," counsel for the central bank submitted in the court.

State Bank of India today said it collected Rs 1,14,139 crore in deposits in last seven days after the government announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. The bank saw 240.90 lakh cash deposit transactions between November 10 and November 16 up to 7 PM, SBI said in a statement here today.

Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd on Wednesday got orders for 2.90 lakh bottles of indelible ink from 20 of India's top banks, including State Bank of India, State Bank of Mysore, Canara Bank and Indian Bank. Mysore Paints, which has been supplying indelible ink for more than five decades for Indian elections, said though it had been getting a lot of calls, many private banks had not placed orders.

People should welcome govt's #DeMonetisation move & not politicise it as it’s going to help the nation's economic development: Raman Singh pic.twitter.com/oBok1Wdhos

— ANI (@ANI_news) November 16, 2016

Timesofindia.com received a lot of queries from its surfers regarding the changed rules and how they can safeguard their money. We contacted Adhil Shetty, CEO of BankBazaar.com to simplify the currency exchange process and answer the frequesntly asked questions.

The government on Wednesday said it will take one more week to recalibrate half of the cash vending two lakh ATMs to dispense the new 500 and 2,000 rupee notes. An official said the government has stepped up printing of new Rs 500 notes so that it can be made available to people.

Some Indian gold traders are placing bulk, short-term import orders on fears that Prime Minister Narendra Modi might soon add curbs on overseas purchases of the metal to his withdrawal of high-denomination banknotes in his fight against 'black money', traders and jewellers said.

The cash crunch in banks and ATMs is expected to continue for at least one more week, according to an intelligence report which attributed the unprecedented situation to a huge gap in demand and supply of currency notes. Based on a report prepared by the intelligence agencies, home ministry officials said there has not been enough money in circulation. People are hoarding smaller denomination and not spending Rs 100 notes which they are getting either after exchanging the defunct Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 currency notes or from the ATMs, they said. Due to huge gap in demand and supply of currency, the cash shortage will continue for at least one more week, officials said.

The home ministry control room is in touch with control rooms of all states and Union Territories and taking inputs on the prevailing situation every two hours, a senior officials said.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar favoured demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes and sought "action against benami property", even as he slammed the Centre for "not doing its homework" before taking the step causing hardships to the poor. "I am in favour of the decision to demonetise Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes which will help end '2 number ka dhanda' (illegal business)," he said addressing a 'Chetna sabha' here at the start of his second leg of 'Nishchay yatra'. "I want an attack on benami properties earned through illegal means for more effective results against black money," he said.

On the eight day of demonetisation, MPs and other political leaders today had plenty to say about the biggest financial decision of the year. Here's a round-up of the top quotes from the day.

Two persons, one of them posing as a policeman, allegedly extorted Rs 50 lakh in demonetised currency notes from a man in Rajendra Nagar area here, police said on Wednesday. The man from whom the money was looted is a friend of a businessman, police said.

Reserve Bank of India, Bhubaneswar said new Rs 500 notes will be available in different bank counters across Odisha from tomorrow and urged people to ignore rumours on circulation of fake Rs 10 coins. "We have received the new Rs 500 notes today. However, they are less in number. We are trying to send them to selected chests of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack by this evening and other parts of the state by tomorrow," RBI general manager SP Mohanty said.

Mohanty said the new Rs 500 currency notes are expected to help streamline the market following the demonetisation of the old high value notes. He, however, said the new Rs 500 notes will not be available in ATMs for the time being.

The hardship arising out of demonetisation may continue for around a month, Union Home minister Rajnath Singh said today, describing the move as the first step towards achieving economic and social freedom.

Speaking at a rally, Singh asked the people to bear with the difficulties for some time as it would usher in a bright future in the long run. "It wasn't a small decision. We admit that people will face hardships for at least a month but it will be beneficial in the long term. A few political parties are opposing it. But bear with it for some time. We will give you a bright future. "India has got political freedom but we need economic and social freedom. We want economic inequality to end. The demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes is the first step towards that. It will help bring transparency in Indian politics," he said.

Many institutions around the world including IMF have praised this effort of #Demonetisation: @MVenkaiahNaidu pic.twitter.com/iZMQCwkdqP

& mdash; Times of India (@timesofindia) November 16, 2016

PM @narendramodi's vision for India is rapid transformation, we constituted SIT on the issue of #BlackMoney: @MVenkaiahNaidu pic.twitter.com/MBuvjOqGE8

& mdash; Times of India (@timesofindia) November 16, 2016

The demonetisation of high value currency notes has hit the Telugu film industry hard with theatres wearing deserted look and some filmmakers postponing the release of new films. The impact is such that the turnout of audience in cinema theatres here and in other parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has fallen drastically. "There are no collections (at the box office). Money is not in circulation. Telugu cinema industry is also hit hard like some other sectors, because middle classes are the main consumers of cinema," Tammareddi Bharadwaja, a prominent filmmaker and a leading industry voice, told PTI today.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke at the commemoration event of the National Press Day at Delhi's Vigyan Bhavan. Read on to know what he said:

Google's newest offering might just make searching for your nearest ATM a lot easier. All a user needs to do now is click on the new "Find an ATM near you" option after opening the search giant's home page. The option is placed just below the primary Search bar. Tapping the option would open Google Maps with the coordinates of ATMs located nearby.

• There is a spike in panic attacks among traders, small builders and officials with unaccounted cash.
• These panic attacks are likely to rise as deadline for depositing scrapped notes approaches in December.
• Experts say demonetisation is like an earthquake on those with unaccounted cash.

"India cannot afford to live with black money any longer. Honesty, integrity and ethical conduct are requirements of India's development," said Jaitley's facebook cover photo.

SBI and few other banks in Delhi have started using indelible ink. As per the standard operating procedure (SOP) for exchanging notes, concerned bank branches and post offices would put indelible ink mark on the right index finger of the customer so as to identify that he/she has exchanged the old currency notes once.

Agar tayari puri hoti to bhavnatmak drama nahi karna padta, na apni buddhi maa ko line me khada karna padta: Mayawati in RS #DeMonetisation

— ANI (@ANI_news) November 16, 2016

"Some difficulties will be there and should be borne. It is such a big step. The Opposition should also help. Things will improve in 10 to 15 days. (Currency) notes are being supplied by helicopters and planes in all states," Union Minister of State for AYUSH (Independent Charge) Shripad Naik said. Naik also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move to demonetise currency would help check corruption, black money, terrorism and inflation.

Tripura CM Manik Sarkar has requested PM Modi to allow people to transact in old Rs 500/1000 currency notes till December 30 considering the hardship being faced by them. In a letter, he also urged Modi to involve state cooperative banks in facilitating exchange of high-value notes saying such a move will bring relief to large section of people as these banks operate in rural areas. The Chief Minister of the Left-ruled north eastern state also sought Modi's intervention in allowing Tripura government to accept Rs 500/1000 notes for payments till the situation normalises. Sarkar said the demonetisation move has created a "situation of crisis" for the common citizens.

Very good step taken by the Govt; we can bear a little inconvenience for the nation: Nana Patekar in Jammu #DeMonetisation pic.twitter.com/KvNxi5NWE1

— ANI (@ANI_news) November 16, 2016

Reports TOI's B V Shiva Shankar

I had to pay my hotel bills; then realised I can't after the #demonetisation move; later thought could have signed the notes for fans: Kohli

— ANI (@ANI_news) November 16, 2016

"The objective behind demonetisation is to force those who have hoards of black money to deposit it in banks. The objective is laudable because black money is used to fund terrorism of various forms to weaken economy," a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and D Y Chandrachud said on Tuesday.