Rs 2,000 currency notes have not been printed in India since 2018, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Monday, 15 March.
In a written reply, Minister of State for Finance (MoS) Anurag Singh Thakur said:
“Printing of banknotes of particular denomination is decided by the government in consultation with RBI to maintain desired denomination mix for facilitating transactional demand of public. During the years 2019-20 and 2020-21, no indent has been placed with the presses for printing of Rs 2000 denomination bank notes.”
This was in response to a question posed by Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) leader A Ganeshmurthi on “whether the government has stopped printing of the denomination of Rs. 2000 currency notes” and reasons for the same.
WHAT ELSE DID THE GOVT INFORM?
Ganeshmurthi had also asked the government if they are aware of the fact that the circulation of Rs 2,000 currency notes among the people is very low, and that it is not available in the banks and ATMs.
In response to that the government said that 3,362 million currency notes of Rs 2,000 denomination were in circulation on 30 March 2018, constituting 3.27 percent and 37.26 percent of the total currency in terms of volume and value respectively.
By February 2021, 2,499 million Rs 2,000 currency notes were in circulation constituting 2.01 percent and 17.78 percent of the total currency in terms of volume and value, respectively.
The government had in November 2016 demonetised Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations notes, and brought in new Rs 2000 and Rs 500 notes.
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