Fact Check: Has the Rs. 2,000 note been banned by RBI

New Delhi, Aug 26: One of the top searched topics on the internet as of today is has the Rs 2,000 note been banned.

Several queries have come in asking if the Rs 2,000 note which was introduced post the decision on demonetisation has been banned or will be banned. A similar query had been raised last year as well.

OneIndia contacted several officials on this issue and learnt that no such decision has been taken to ban the Rs 2,000 note. There is no such thing on the anvil as of now also the officials that we spoke with added.

However, we learnt that the rumour mills set off following the annual report of the Reserve Bank of India. The annual report of the RBI said that Rs 2,000 note were not printed in 2019-2020.

The currency notes of Rs 2,000 denomination were not printed in 2019-2020. The circulation of these notes have declined over the years, the annual report of the RBI also said.

The report further went on to say that the number of Rs 2,000 currency notes in circulation has come down from 33,632 lakh pieces at end-March 2018 to 32,910 lakh pieces at end-March 2019 and further to 27,398 lakh pieces at end-March 2020.

The number of pieces of Rs 2,000 denomination notes constituted 2.4 per cent of the total volume of notes at end-March 2020, down from 3 per cent at end-March 2019 and 3.3 per cent at end-March 2018.

In value terms also, the share has come down to 22.6 per cent at end-March 2020, from 31.2 per at end-March 2019 and 37.3 per cent at the end-March 2018.

On the other hand, the circulation of currency notes of denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 200 has gone up substantially, both in terms of volume and value over the three years beginning 2018.

The RBI report further revealed that no indent for printing of Rs 2,000 currency notes was made during 2019-20 and no fresh supplies were made by BRBNMPL (Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited) and SPMCIL (Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited).

"The indent of banknotes for 2019-20 was lower by 13.1 per cent than that of a year ago.

The supply of banknotes during 2019-20 was also lower by 23.3 per cent than in the previous year mainly due to the disruptions caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdown," it said.

On Rs 500 denomination notes, the RBI said indent for printing of 1,463 crore pieces were issued and 1,200 crore pieces were supplied during 2019-20. This compares with indent of 1,169 crore pieces and 1,147 crore supply during 2018-19.

The order was also given to BRBNMPL and SPMCIL for printing currency notes of Rs 100 (330 crore pieces), Rs 50 (240 crore pieces), Rs 200 (205 crore pieces), Rs 10 (147 crore pieces) and Rs 20 (125 crore pieces) during 2019-20. A large number of them were also supplied during the fiscal for circulation, PTI reported while citing the RBI report.