Rs 2,000 note introduced to curb black money, hoarding stopped from printing for same reasons
The Rs 2,000 note, which was brought into the system after demonetisation to curb black money and hoarding, has now been completely stopped from printing due to promoting the same problems.
The Rs 2,000 note, which was brought into the system after demonetisation to curb black money and hoarding, has now been completely stopped from printing due to promoting the same problems. Not even a single note is printed so far in this financial year. The officials have stated that a high circulation of Rs 2,000 notes may defeat the government’s objectives as they are easier to use for illegal purposes such as smuggling, according to a reply to an RTI filed by The New Indian Express. The officials cited the unaccounted cash of Rs 6 crore in Rs 2,000 notes seized at Andhra-Tamil Nadu border as an incident that inspired them to take this action.
In the year FY 17, 354 crore note of Rs 2,000 was printed, which decreased to 4.6 crores in the last year and nil in the current fiscal year. Meanwhile, The counterfeit instances among substituted notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2000 have also skyrocketed since their inception, says the latest RBI annual report. Fake notes among the new design notes of Rs 500 more than doubled with an increase of 121 per cent whereas those of Rs 2000 increased by 21.9 than the previous year during 2018-19, going by the report.
Compared to the year of demonetisation, 2016-17, fake notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2000 has shot up by 43 and 34 folds respectively in 2018-19.
A Finance Ministry official had said earlier this year that the printing of Rs 2000 notes has been substantially reduced and it has been decided to limit the printing of 2000 currency notes to a minimum, according to news agency PTI. The RBI’s reply came at a time when the news of “high quality” fake currency notes from Pakistan and “low quality” fake currency notes from Bangladesh have resurfaced.
The government had earlier informed the Lok Sabha that it did not intend to stop the circulation of Rs 2,000 note. “There is no proposal under consideration of the government to stop Rs 2,000 note,” Minister of State for Finance P Radhakrishnan said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha to a question whether the finance ministry has any plan to stop the note in near future.