Mumbai, August 27: It's not quite demonetisation but the Reserve Bank of India looks like it is phasing out the Rs 2000 currency note if cues available in its annual report 2019-20, released on Tuesday, are any indication. The annual report said the Rs 2000 denomination note, introduced during demonetisation in 2016, was not printed at all during 2019-2020.

 

 

The number of Rs 2,000 currency notes in circulation has come down from 33,632 lakh pieces at the end of March 2018 to 27,398 lakh pieces at end of March 2020. According to the report, Rs 2,000 notes constituted 2.4 per cent of the total volume of notes at end-March 2020, down from 3.3 per cent at end-March 2018. In value terms also, the share has came down to 22.6 per cent at end-March 2020 from 37.3 per cent at the end-March 2018. It was 50 per cent in 2017, as the major focus that year was on remonetising the economy.

 

On the other hand, the circulation of Rs 500 and Rs 200 notes has gone up substantially, both in terms of volume and value over the three years beginning 2018. A senior banker at IDBI Bank, Sanjay Patil said, “Very clearly, without demonetisation, the RBI maybe phasing out Rs 2000 currency notes. We are not getting any new supply of Rs 2000 notes.”

 

Meanwhile a former banker Harish Jadhav said, “There may be some people hoarding Rs 2000 currency notes but they may be few. Banks are not reissuing Rs 2000 notes and maybe banks have been told by RBI not to reissue Rs 2000 notes. Also it's easy to calibrate ATMs with lower currency notes. Rs 500 notes are more easy to use and convertible. The world over, the 2000 denomination currency is rare.”