‘₹200 NOTE TO BE OUT SOON’

With rumours of the Centre planning to withdraw newly-introduced ~2,000 note doing the rounds, minister of state for finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar has said there was no news of its scrapping, adding the ~200 note will be in circulation soon. “No news that ~2,000 will be scrapped,” Gangwar told IANS in an interview.

“The reduction in printing of new ~2,000 notes is a separate issue. But that needs to be confirmed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). RBI will give information on ~2,000 notes,” he added. According to media reports, the government has stopped further printing of the recently printed ~2,000 notes.

On July 26, the issue was raised in Parliament when the opposition asked finance minister Arun Jaitley to confirm if the government was going to “demonetise ~2,000 notes” and if its printing had been stopped. The Minister declined to reply.

Industry experts said the government was aiming to limit the circulation of high denomination ~2,000 note, which would remain a legal tender, but not demonetise it. The circulation of smaller denomination notes would be increased by introducing a new ~200 note.

Gangwar told IANS that ~200 note, printing of which had already begun, would be in circulation soon. The move to introduce ~200 note was to increase the circulation of smaller denomination notes, he added.

A top government official, on condition of anonymity, said the ~200 note would be introduced in the markets in August.

“The paper for ~200 notes was ready in the Mysuru paper mill in June. It should be in circulation next month,” the official said.

The Mysuru paper mill is joint venture of Security Printing and Minting Corp of India Ltd (SMPCIL) and Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran, a whollyowned subsidieary of RBI.

The ~200 new note was being printed in the RBI printing press.