Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has admitted that it does not have any data on alleged irregularities or scams in the exchange of demonetised currency notes of Rs500 and Rs1000 in state and district cooperative banks, a Right To Information (RTI) reply revealed on Monday.
The Narendra Modi-led BJP government had overturned its decision to allow note exchange and handling of new currency in cooperative banks within six days of demonetisation, based on ‘unsubstantiated’ accusation of money laundering in these banks. Galgali says that this decision hit millions of farmers and rural population whose only access to formalised banking continues to be through these banks that have a network in the most remote part of the country.
Seeking facts on the ground reality of these accusations, the prominent RTI activist had sought data on the irregularities and scams detected in these cooperative banks across the country between November 8 and 14, 2016. Galgali asked the RBI to supply him the data on the corruption detected in the cooperative banks from the day RBI revoked its decision in allowing exchange of Rs500 and Rs1000 notes in cooperative banks with details of branch, state and action taken in each case.
“Public Information Officer of RBI, A G Ray, specifically replied that the information sought on District and Apex State Cooperative Banks is not available with him (that is RBI),” said Galgali. Ray also stated that data on urban cooperative banks may be obtained from some other department.
Galgali has questioned as to “why the accusations were hurled at cooperative banks of underhand dealings in the exchange of currency notes in these banks, when RBI did not seem to have data of a single case anywhere in India.
“Was such an important decision having direct impact on the lives of millions of people and the future of one of the most intricately networked financial institution of cooperative banking, forming the backbone of India’s rural economy, taken on the basis of mere hearsay,” asked Galgali.
