Rs. 2,000 notes haven’t been printed in last 2 years, Minister tells parliament

Mangalore Today News Network / NDTV

New Delhi, Mar 15, 2021:     Rs. 2,000 notes have not been printed in the last two years, the Finance Ministry said today in parliament to a question on why the currency notes introduced after demonetization in 2016 were hardly in circulation now.

 

2000-rupee notes were not sent to the printing press in 2019-20 and 2020-21, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said in the Lok Sabha.

In a question, MDMK MP A Ganeshamurthi had asked whether the government was aware of the fact the circulation of ₹ 2,000 currency notes among the people was "very low" and it was not available in banks and ATMs even.

"The printing of banknotes of particular denomination is decided by the government in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to maintain desired denomination mix for facilitating transactional demand of public," Anurag Thakur replied, explaining that the printing of currency was demand based.

The decision was also taken based on whether it was convenient to use. There was a drop in the circulation of the 2,000-rupee note, the minister said.

Last year, a top official had said 2,000 rupee notes constituted 35 per cent of the total circulation.

The pink banknotes were introduced along with new ₹ 500 currency after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in November 2016 that old ₹ 500 and ₹ 1,000 notes would be scrapped.