An RTI response has revealed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stopped printing Rs 2,000 denomination currency notes.
According to the New Indian Express, the Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran has not printed a single note of Rs 2,000 this financial year. The central bank’s RTI reply revealed that 3,542.991 million notes of Rs 2,000 were printed during the financial year 2016-17. However, the year 2017-18 saw a substantial reduction in printing and only 111.507 million notes were produced, which was further reduced to 46.690 million notes in the year 2018-19.
Officials told the New Indian Express, 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. In January, unaccounted cash of Rs 6 crore in Rs 2,000 notes was seized at Andhra-Tamil Nadu border.
Earlier this year, a top RBI had said that the central government reduced the printing of the notes to "bare minimum" in an attempt to curb money laundering. "The printing of 2,000 rupee notes has been substantially reduced. It has been decided to limit the printing of 2,000 currency notes to minimum. This is nothing new," an official told the Week.
