NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India is still not in a position to provide the exact amount of demonetised currency returned to the central bank, Governor Urjit Patel told a parliamentary standing committee on Wednesday. Counting "is still on" and the information will be provided "at the earliest," Patel said.Deputy Governor BP Kanungo told the committee that the RBI has floated a tender to buy more counting machines - in addition to the 59 it already has and the seven it hired - to speed up the counting, according to people familiar with the proceedings. Patel said action was being taken to address currency shortage in some areas.Digvijaya Singh is said to have pointedly asked Patel to spell out how the stated reasons for demonetisation could be justified, given increasing incidents of terror strikes, unabated stone-pelting in Jammu & Kashmir and widely reported seizures of fake currency and unearthing of black money by agencies. Patel and his colleagues avoided direct responses and said they would provide members with a written reply. Many members asked Patel what action RBI was contemplating against bitcoin.

Source: Economic Times July 12, 2017 17:16 UTC