Just four hours before the televised announcement of demonetisation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the central board of Reserve Bank of India had approved the scheme, barring two key justifications – black money and counterfeit notes, reported The Indian Express.

The minutes of the 561st RBI’s central board meeting which was called hurriedly around 5.30 pm on November 8, 2016 reveal that the move was described “commendable” but also warned that it will have a negative impact on the gross domestic product (GDP) of the current year, the report said.

The RBI directors, after receiving a proposal from the finance ministry on November 7, 2016 argued that the centre’s reasoning on the withdrawal of high denomination currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 would help curb black money and restrict the circulation of counterfeit cash, did not hold good.

Countering the ministry’s argument, the central bank said that most of the black money is held in the form of real estate assets, gold etc. and not in the form of cash, and a move like this would not have any material impact on those assets, the report added.