Deposits into Jan Dhan A/Cs decline after government warning

New Delhi: Following the government's warning that action would be taken against those using their Jan Dhan accounts to convert black money into white, deposits into such accounts have reportedly decelerated.

As per reports, deposits into Jan Dhan accounts went down to Rs 4,867 crore during November 23-30 compared to Rs 20,206 crore during November 8-15, the first week since the demonetisation move.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Wednesday said that inflows into Jan Dhan accounts have come down significantly after it warned people not to allow their accounts to be misused for converting black money into white.

The tax body also informed that total daily deposit in Jan Dhan accounts was Rs 410 crore on December 1 and Rs 389 crore on December 2.

"The average per account deposit in Jan Dhan accounts is Rs 13,113 for this entire period from November 8 to December 2, which is not alarming, given the need to bring all cash to banks," said the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

The deposits in Jan Dhan accounts post demonetisation saw a sudden surge but after the Centre's warning against misusing such accounts, there has been a continuous fall in deposits in last couple of weeks.

The Income Tax Department has identified the local clusters and bank branches where the inflows of Jan Dhan deposits have been more than normal, in order to investigate money deposits in Jan Dhan accounts which belonged to somebody else, it said.

After setting a cash deposit limit of Rs 50,000 in Jan Dhan accounts, the government had on November 18 cautioned account holders that they will be prosecuted under the I-T Act for allowing misuse of their bank accounts through deposit of black money in Rs 500/1,000 notes during the 50-day window till December 30.

The directive came against the backdrop of reports that some are misusing other persons' bank accounts to convert their black money into new denomination notes.

The CBDT today said since the time the government has alerted people not to allow their accounts, particularly Jan Dhan accounts, to be used by others for the purpose of converting their black money into white, there has been a considerable decrease in inflows of funds in Jan Dhan accounts.

Since November 10, Rs 11.85 lakh crore in form of old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes have returned into the banking system. It was estimated that now defunct notes constituted 86 percent or Rs 14.5 lakh crore in circulation.

With PTI Inputs