Some unconfirmed reports have been doing the rounds claiming that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to discontinue the printing of Rs 2000 notes. The reports cite the RBI's annual report that said no currency notes of Rs 2000 denomination were printed in 2019-20.
Clarifying on the matter, the government has debunked the reports and said that no such decision has been taken.
The government, however, acknowledged that the printing of the high denomination notes has been lowered significantly.
In a written reply in Lok Sabha on Sunday, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur informed that no indent has been placed with the press for the printing of Rs 2000 notes.
“During the year 2019-20 and 2020-21, no indent has been placed with the presses for printing of Rs. 2000 denomination notes. However, there is no decision to discontinue the printing of Rs. 2,000 denomination bank notes by the Government," Thakur said.
Thakur also said that printing of bank notes of a particular denomination is decided by the government in consultation with the RBI to maintain desired denomination mix for facilitating transactional demand of the public.
When questioned whether the printing process of currency notes was affected by coronavirus outbreak, Thakur responded that the printing of notes was stopped temporarily due to the countrywide lockdown, adding that it was resumed later in a phased manner.
A total of 273.98 crore notes of the denomination of Rs 2,000, were in circulation as of March 31, 2020, compared to 329.10 crore notes on March 31, 2019.
The production activities at Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL) presses were suspended from March 23, 2020, to May 3. Printing of bank notes at BRBNMPL presses resumed from May 4, 2020.
Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) has informed that printing of bank notes at their presses was also affected due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.
