Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel on Wednesday told a Parliamentary panel that they were still counting the currency deposited after Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were scrapped in November 2016. He said there was no final figure on how much currency had been deposited with the bank.

The panel questioned Patel for more than three hours on Wednesday, The Hindu reported. He told the panel that the RBI has been using several counting machines to quickly finish calculating how much money had been submitted, and that the bank was planning to rent more such machines. However, he added that he could not provide a date by which the RBI can submit such a figure.

The English newspaper report added that a panel member asked Patel if the figure could be ascertained before the next Parliamentary election. Patel did not respond to the question.

The central government was massively criticised after it announced the demonetisation of the notes on November 8 last year. It had said the move was done to smoke out black money holders, though Opposition parties and some economists had said the decision had impacted Indians and the economy negatively.