New Delhi:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stopped printing 2,000 denomination currency notes about five months ago in order to focus on production of smaller denominations notes, including a new Rs 200, sources close to the matter reported on Tuesday.
According to a report in a leading economic daily, RBI officials have sped up the process of printing Rs 200 notes, which are expected to hit the banking system next month.
The Apex bank is also unlikely to print more 2000-rupee notes in the current financial year, they said on condition of anonymity. About 3.7 billion Rs 2000 notes amounting to Rs 7.4 trillion have been printed, said one of the people cited above. That more than compensates for the 6.3 billion Rs 1000 notes that were withdrawn after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetization move on 8 November 2016.
The government started to print the 2000-rupee note to quickly overcome the cash crunch from demonetization, but fewer lower-value currency in circulation meant people struggled to change the big denomination bill. The RBI’s focus now on printing small bills is aimed at bridging that gap.
