NEW ₹100 NOTES COMING NEXT YEAR, PRINTING TO BEGIN IN APR

NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to start printing redesigned ₹100 banknotes around April next year, two central bank officials said.

Printing of the notes will begin after the central bank’s presses finish printing the new ₹200 notes by March. The existing₹100 notes will be withdrawn gradually without any disruption, a government official said, requesting anonymity.

The size and dimensions of the new notes will be similar to the old notes so that automatic-teller machines (ATMs) can dispense the new notes without any alterations to the ATMS. Of the four cassettes, or boxes, in an ATM, only one is used for Rs 100 notes.

Redesigning currency notes from time to time help in eliminating circulation of fake notes. RBI recently, redesigned the ₹50 note to add security features.

India banned the old ₹500 and ₹1000 denomination bank notes in November in an attempt to flush out undeclared wealth.

In December, RBI officials had said that all currency notes will be redesigned.

Since then, the government has changed the ₹500 and ₹50 notes, and introduced new denominations of ₹200 and ₹2,000.

Meanwhile, two officials working at different banks added that the exercise of dispensing the ₹200 notes through ATMs is likely to take six months. Their printing will depend on the demand and feedback received from select bank branches that have started dispensing the notes.

While the currency replacement exercise is over and there is no shortage of cash, the ₹2,000 notes are unpopular with users, said the bank officials quoted above.