New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said normalcy has been restored within few weeks of the decision to recall 86 per cent of the currency in circulation and now there is no shortage of notes in market. He said, currency note printing presses of Reserve Bank of India as well as Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd, SPMCIL have worked without a break to remonetise by issuing new bank notes.

Mr Jaitley heaped praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-debated demonetisation move claiming perhaps such massive exercise has not happened in any country. Speaking at the 11th Foundation Day function of the Security Printing Minting Corporation of India Limited, SPMCIL in New Delhi today, Mr Jaitley said, it was perhaps one of the biggest exercises of demonetisation and remonetisation in the world. He said, making comments is the easiest thing during demonetisation and remonetisation, and the most difficult job is to implement it. He said, if ever a research is done on demonetisation, a chapter would talk about printing speed, also keeping secretive printing done in advance.

Applauding the security printing presses for their dedication during demonetisation and remonetisation, the Finance Minister said, while people were estimating that it will take a year or seven months for printing adequate number of notes, the situation was normalised in a few weeks. He said, during the period, SPMCIL and the Reserve Bank of India printing presses did a commendable job to maintain the supply line of notes.

In his address, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das highlighted the role of SPMCIL in remonetisation. He said, SPMCIL staff worked in additional shifts to print currency and the notes were airlifted to different parts of the country. In his address Chairman and Managing Director of SPMCIL Praveen Garg informed that the company has become debt free and it is also planning to issue bonds this year.

He said, post demonetisation, the currency presses of SPMCIL transported 60 million 500 rupees notes through air amounting 21 thousand 500 crore rupees. He said, Nashik and Dewas units of SPMCIL worked in three shifts and 24×7 creating additional 6.3 lakh man hours in both units during demonetization.