A top finance ministry official on Thursday stated that the printing of Rs 2000 banknote, has been reduced to the “minimum” by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
After the demonetisation on 8 November in 2016 banning old Rs 500/1000 currency notes by the government, the RBI had come out with the Rs 2000 currency note along with a new-look Rs 500 note, as part of its massive remonetisation exercise.
The official stated that “The printing of 2000-rupee notes has been substantially reduced. It has been decided to limit the printing of 2000 currency notes to a minimum. This is nothing new.”
When the Rs 2000 note was launched, it was decided that printing would be “scaled down” going forward, since the new high currency value note was meant for meeting the remonetisation need.
According to RBI data, at end-March 2017 there were 3,285 million pieces of Rs 2000 notes in circulation. A year after in March 2018 there was only a marginal increase in the number at 3,363 million pieces.