The government has told in the Lok Sabha that in the last two years, not a single note of 2 thousand rupees has been printed, while its number has come down. Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said in a written reply to Parliament on Monday that on 30 March 2018, 336.2 crore notes of 2000 rupees were in circulation, while on 26 February 2021 the number came down to 249.9 crore.
The Minister of State for Finance said in response, “The decision to print banknotes of any value is taken on the advice of RBI to meet the demand of public transactions.” He said, “2019-20 And the printing of 2000 rupee note has not been ordered in 2020-21. ”
Anurag Thakur said, 2000 rupee notes were not printed in the financial year 2019-20 and 2020-21. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in 2019 that 3542.991 million banknotes worth Rs 2,000 were printed during the financial year 2016-17 (April 2016 to March 2017). However, 111.507 million notes of 2,000 rupees were printed in 2017-18 and 46.690 million new notes in 2018-19.
2 thousand rupee notes were printed for the first time in November 2016
No new currency notes of 2000 rupees have been printed since April 2019. This step was taken to curb hoarding and black money of high value currency. The 2,000-rupee note was first printed in November 2016. The government had taken 500 rupees and 1,000 rupee notes in a big action by taking black money and counterfeit notes.
At the time of demonetisation in November 2016, the government excluded old 500 and 1000 rupee notes prevalent in the country and introduced new 500 and 2000 rupee notes. One reason for the demonetisation was that the government had said that big notes make it easier for those who raise black money. In such a situation, the opposition had also questioned the issue of 2000 rupee notes.
It is clear from the data that after a year or two, the government started work on the removal of two thousand notes out of circulation. The role of banks is important in this direction. Most of the notes that come in bank branches are then sent back to the Reserve Bank instead of putting them in circulation.