The Reserve Bank of India stopped the printing of the Rs 2,000 currency notes five months back and will not be printing new notes of that denomination for the current financial year, reported Livemint.
RBI officials reportedly told the newspaper that the central bank has also accelerated the process of printing the Rs 200 currency notes. The new notes are expected to start circulating by next month.
Since demonetisation, 3.7 billion currency notes of Rs 2,000 denomination have been printed, amounting to Rs 7.4 trillion in value.
According to the official quoted in the report, the Rs 2,000 notes have “more than compensated” for the 6.3 billion Rs 1,000 notes that was demonetised last November.
The RBI is also reportedly printing new batches of Rs 500 notes, which are expected to compensate for the Rs 2,000 notes taken out of circulation.
The cash crunch which existed till two months ago has now eased with RBI increasing supply of Rs 500 notes over the last 40 days. But we have also seen a sharp drop in the supply of Rs 2,000 notes during this period.Neeraj Vyas, Deputy Managing Director, SBI to Livemint
Around a billion Rs 200 notes are expected to hit the market in the first few months after their introduction, said a printing press source in Mysuru.
Rs 2,000 Note Rakes Up Political Storm
Meanwhile, the highest denomination note also raked up a political storm in the Parliament on Wednesday as the Opposition in Rajya Sabha asked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to clarify whether the government has decided to scrap the newly launched Rs 2,000 note and introduce a Rs 1,000 coin.
However, Jaitley who was present in the House, did not respond even as the Opposition members insisted for clarification from him on the issue.
Raising a point of order during the Zero Hour, Naresh Agrawal of Samajwadi Party said:
The government has taken a decision to scrap Rs 2,000 note. The RBI has been given an order not to print the Rs 2,000 notes. [...] If any policy decision been taken during the Parliament Session, the tradition is to announce it in the House... RBI cannot bully. One note ban has been done, the second one is being planned. Let the Finance Minister say...
To this, Deputy chairman PJ Kurien said “that is RBI's action.”
Agrawal then said that the earlier note ban decision was taken by the government and not the RBI.
The RBI board had opposed it but the government took the decision. The earlier decision (of demonetisation) was taken by the government, the second one is also from the government.
Echoing his views, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad too sought clarification from the government on whether it was planning to introduce Rs 1,000 coins.
"Every day we read about a coin of 1,000, 100 and 200. What is the actual status? Are we to go by what media is writing? The House is to be enlightened by the Finance Minister. What is the truth?" he asked.
Tiruchi Siva (DMK) said he cannot dispense with the media reports completely and sought clarification from the government on the issue.
Sharad Yadav (JD-U) said the issue was serious as the rumours are strong. The government should clarify and stop the rumours or else people will start returning Rs 2,000 notes.
(With inputs from PTI)
(We all love to express ourselves, but how often do we do it in our mother tongue?Here's your chance! This Independence Day, khul ke bol with BOL – Love your Bhasha. Sing, write, perform, spew poetry – whatever you like – in your mother tongue. Send us your BOL at bol@thequint.com or WhatsApp it to 9910181818.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)