If this question has crossed your mind recently, an RTI reply can provide you an answer. According to an RTI reply, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has not printed a single new Rs 2,000 denomination currency notes in over the last two years.
As per an RTI reply received from the Bharat Reserve banknote Mud ran, which works under the RBI, '0' number of 2,000 denomination currency notes were printed in 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22.
The RTI reply also indicated that the number of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation has gone down drastically. The RTI response clearly shows a trend suggesting that a conscious decision has been made to bring down the share of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation.
Reserve banknote Mud ran revealed that it printed 3,542.991 million pieces of Rs 2,000 notes in the financial year 2016-17, which drastically came down to 111.507 million notes in 2017-18 and was further reduced to 46.690 million notes in 2018-19.
The Rs 2,000 note is the highest denomination currency in India. The Central bank had introduced the new Rs 2,000 note after the government announced demonetization of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8, 2016.
As per the data, the total number of fake Rs 2,000 notes seized in the country in 2016 was 2,272, which increased to 74,898 in 2017, 90,566 pieces in 2019, before registering a big June in 2020 to 2,44,834 pieces. As per the RTI reply, the central bank stopped printing the Rs 2,000 since 2020.
More than 90 per cent of the counterfeit notes detected in the banking system were of low quality, and none of the major security features were compromised. Details of security features of these notes are displayed on the RBI website for the public, said the reply in the Parliament.
As per information shared by the government in the ok Sasha, no fresh indent for printing of ₹2,000 notes was given to the RBI during the last two financial years (FY20 and FY21). RBI’s data, too, show a steady fall in the volumes as well value of these notes. While the volumes came down from 32,910 pieces in 2019 to 24,510 pieces for lakh at the end of March 2021, the value, too, decreased correspondingly from ₹6,58,199 crore to ₹4,90,195 crore.
In value terms, the share of ₹500 and ₹2,000 banknotes together accounted for 85.7 per cent of the total value of banknotes in circulation as on March 31, 2021, compared to 83.4 per cent as on March 31, 2020.
A senior SBI official says there has been a poor “arrival” of ₹2,000 notes at bank counters. Banknotes are expected to be in circulation and not many customers are bringing ₹2000 notes for transaction. With non-availability of new notes in currency chests in adequate numbers, ₹500 notes have almost substituted them now, he said.
Some bankers also say there is a general shortage of higher denomination notes in election years “for obvious reasons”.
Curiously, customers are paying for the shortage of ₹2,000 notes. As ATMs can dispense only 40 notes at one go, we can only withdraw ₹20,000. If there are ₹2,000 notes too in an ATM tray, it will be better for a customer in the wake of higher ATM use charges these days. So, banks are actually gaining due to this, says PK Krishna, an HDFC Bank customer.
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