Banks got about $170 billion in old notes since demonetisation

Reuters
People hold their old high denomination bank notes as they stand in a queue to deposit them inside a bank in Kanpur, India, November 10, 2016. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian banks have so far received roughly 11.5 trillion rupees ($169.45 billion) in discontinued currency since the government decided to abolish high value bank notes last month, RBI deputy governor R. Gandhi said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to scrap 500-rupee and 1,000-rupee banknotes on Nov. 8 in a bid to flush out cash earned through illegal activities, or earned legally but never disclosed.

The scrapped notes in circulation as of Nov. 8 were worth about 15.44 trillion rupees, according to government data. The old notes can be deposited in bank accounts up until Dec. 30.

($1 = 67.8679 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy; Editing by Euan Rocha)