A year past, currency circulation in India is back to pre-demonetisation levels

• After 15 months the amount of money in circulations is 99.17% of what it was on 04 November 2016.
• In January 2018, currency in circulation rose by approximately 89,000 crores and there was a sharp decline in digital transactions.
  
• The Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, had set an ambitious goal of 25 billion digital transactions in his Union Budget for 2017-18.
  
• Around 14.8 billion transactions have been recorded from 1 April 2017 to 28 January 2018.
  

It's taken over a year but finally, the amount of currency in circulation is almost at pre-demonetisation level. Few will forget the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement to pull the plug on Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in order to combat fake currency, black money and corruption amongst others. The chaos that ensued due to this move included snaking queues in front of banks, a total breakdown of the supply chain leading to the shortage of essential goods, loss in wages for daily labourers and even death.

Whether or not the assault managed to actually curb these menaces is a matter of great debate but finally, after 15 months the amount of money in circulation is 99.17% of what it was on 04 November 2016 (the last weekend before the demonetisation announcement). According to the latest Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, total currency in circulation as on 23 February 2018 was at Rs 17.82 lakh crore and the pre demonetisation amount was Rs 17.97 lakh crore.

Though one of the intended purposes of the note ban was to nudge people into embracing digital payment mechanisms, a move that was achieved to some degree, it looks like the economy is pivoting back to relying on cash transactions. In January 2018, currency in circulation rose by approximately 89,000 crores and there was a sharp decline in digital transactions. The Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, had set an ambitious goal of 25 billion digital transactions in his Union Budget for 2017-18 but only around 14.8 billion transactions--including bank-to-bank electronic money transfers, digital wallet payments, Aadhaar-based and electronic toll payments--have been recorded from 1 April 2017 to 28 January 2018 according to data compiled by the ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY).