NE BUSINESS BUREAU
NEW DELHI, FEB 27
Banks have started dispensing more number of Rs 500 notes instead of Rs 2,000 denomination notes, a move seen as gradual phasing out of the high denomination currency.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in an RTI response last year had said that the central bank had stopped printing Rs 2,000 denomination currency notes.
Although there has been no dictate from the Finance Ministry, banks on their own have decided to fill their ATMs with smaller denomination notes for the convenience of customers, sources said.
Some banks have already started recalibrating of their ATMs and other banks will also follow the suit, sources said.
State-owned Indian Bank has already announced that it has decided to stop using Rs 2,000 notes in their ATMs.
Getting change for Rs 2,000 note is an issue, keeping that in mind some banks have stopped using Rs 2,000 notes in their ATMs.
According to the RBI’s RTI reply, 3,542.991 million notes of Rs 2,000 denomination were printed during 2016-17. However, 2017-18 saw a substantial reduction in printing and only 111.507 million notes were produced, which further reduced to 46.690 million notes in 2018-19. According to the reply, notes in circulation (NIC) as on November 4, 2016 were Rs 17,74,187 crore which have now increased to Rs 22,35,648 crore as on December 2, 2019.
When asked if the Finance Ministry has asked banks not to push Rs 2,000 notes through ATMs, Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the ministry has not issued any instruction to banks in this regard.
