SBI report suggests, RBI may be holding back Rs 2,000 notes

A recent State Bank of India (SBI) report indicated that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may either be holding back Rs2,000 notes or could have stopped its printing of the high-value note. The high denomination currency was introduced for the first time last year after demonetisation. Comparing the data presented in the Lok Sabha recently with the one provided by the RBI in its annual report earlier, the report, authored by the bank's chief economist, Soumya Kanti Ghosh, cited, 'we observe that the value of small denomination currency in circulation up to March 2017 was Rs3,501 billion. This implies that the value of high denomination notes was equivalent to Rs13,324 billion as on 8 December, after netting out the small denomination notes from the currency in circulation on that day, it said.'

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The report further added according to ministry of finance, the RBI has printed 16,957 million pieces of Rs500 notes and 3,654 million pieces of Rs2,000 notes as on 8 December. The total value of such notes translates into Rs15,787 billion. 'This indicates that the residual amount of 2000 rupee notes of Rs2,463 billion may have been printed by the RBI but not supplied in the market.' The report also averred that, 'it is safe to assume' that Rs2,463 billion may be on the lower side as the RBI must have printed notes of small denomination in the interregnum (Rs50 and Rs200). Ghosh also said that as the rupee 2,000 denomination led to challenges in transactions, it 'seemed that RBI may have either consciously stopped printing' these notes 'or is printing them in smaller numbers after the initial print run to normalise the liquidity situation'.

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