On the day when the Reserve Bank of India said that deposits over Rs 5000 in old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations can be made only once per account before December 30, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that no questions would be asked if any amount of demonetised currency is deposited in one go.
However, repeated deposits of amount exceeding Rs 5000 might raise queries, Jaitley said.
Depositors must answer two questions if they want to deposit amount more than Rs 5,000 in demonetised notes in a bank account. The depositor must fill a form with questions- 1) Why the amount could not be deposited earlier, and 2) What is your source of funds?
According to RBI notification dated December 19, the depositor must answer these questions in the presence of at least two bank officials.The money will be credited in the account only if the officials find the answers satisfactory.
The sudden tightening of operational procedures comes along with the RBI's December 19 guideline that scrapped currency notes above Rs 5,000 in value could be deposited in banks till December 30 only at one go.
The depositor will also have to sign a declaration that comes with the form.
"I understand that the SBN's [specified bank notes; the scrapped currency, that is] up to Rs 5,000 in value deposited across the counter will be allowed until December 30," the declaration states.
The new form is the result of the RBI's December 19 notification which said, "Tenders of SBNs in excess of Rs 5,000 into a bank account will be received for credit only once during the remaining period till December 30, 2016. The credit in such cases shall be afforded only after questioning tenderer, on record, in the presence of at least two officials of the bank, as to why this could not be deposited earlier and receiving a satisfactory explanation. The explanation should be kept on record to facilitate an audit trail at a later stage."
The Economic Times reported that even after Jaitley’s statement that no questions will be asked if one deposits old currency worth more than Rs 5000 at one go, depositors are asked by some banks to answer these questions.
So, either the statement by the Finance Minister does not hold any significance or it was made just to further confuse people.
