Seven months after the demonetisation drive, the Reserve Bank of India has begun the printing of Rs 200 note to help ease consumer transactions. The Rs 200 denomination notes are being printed in a government-owned facility after the RBI placed an order a few weeks ago for the bills, a report said. An email sent to the RBI seeking its comments could not elicit any response until the publication of this report.
The government feels that with the introduction of new Rs. 200 note, it will help bridge the gap between the already currency notes in use. It is also of the view that lower denomination notes aids government’s efforts at realigning currency mix in the system. The government also thinks it will prevent counterfeiting, hence the new denomination is going through different levels of security checks.
Meanwhile, according to sources, the notes are going through different level of security and quality checks at the government’s printing press unit at Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh. The printing of notes is being done is either in printing units run by the government-run Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd or at printing presses in Mysore (Karnataka) and Salboni, West Bengal which is managed by managed by the RBI-owned Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Ltd.
After the demonetisation move was announced on November 8, roughly 1,650 crore pieces of Rs 500 notes were removed from the system leaving a large gap in the value of notes in circulation. “The introduction of Rs 200 notes will replenish the missing middle, triggered by the withdrawal of the old series onf Rs 500 notes”, said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economist at the SBI Group to a leading daily.
Earlier, the Hindustan Times reported that the RBI is unlikely to circulate Rs 200 notes through ATMs so as to avoid the tedious process of recalibrating the machines. The central bank wants circulate the new notes through bank branches.
During demonetisation, the government had ordered the withdrawal of the then existing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, which accounted for about 86% of currency in circulation of Rs 17.9 lakh crore. As on June 9 this year, the currency circulation with the public is at Rs 14.6 lakh crore, still 18.4% lower than the pre-demonetisation level.
