Breaking his silence on demonetisation, after 18 days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this move, Reserve Bank of India governor Urjit Patel said the central bank is monitoring the situation on a daily basis and taking all necessary actions to “ease the genuine pain of citizens” with a clear intent to normalise things as early as possible.

Speaking to a news agency in Mumbai today, he expressed concern about the inconvenience faced by the people following withdrawal of the high value currency notes. He said government is getting printing presses to work at capacity to make the new notes available to meet demand.

The RBI governor, who came under attack by the opposition for his silence over the raging issue, emphasised that liquidity in the banking system has increased and stressed that the intent of the central monitoring authority is to normalise things as soon as possible.

Patel further said that the RBI and government are working in unison in getting printing presses to work at capacity to make the new notes available to meet the increasing demand. He urged the people to start using cash substitutes like debit cards and digital wallets, saying they will make transactions cheaper and easier.