RBI stops printing Rs 2,000 notes; govt believes high denomination currency being used for hoarding, tax evasion
FirstpostThe Rs 2,000 banknote is likely to be phased out from the circulation gradually The Reserve Bank of India has reportedly stopped printing Rs 2,000 currency notes as the government suspects the high denomination banknote was “being used for hoarding, tax evasion and money laundering,” a media report said. In December 2018, banker Uday Kotak had said that the outcome of the controversial demonetisation drive would have been “significantly better” if “simple things” like introducing Rs 2,000 currency notes were avoided. Replying to a question whether the government was considering withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes, Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan in the Lok Sabha said, “there is no such proposal.” In December 2017, an SBI Research report had said that the RBI might either be holding back Rs 2,000 notes or could have stopped printing high denomination currency. “This means that the residual amount of high currency notes of Rs 2,463 billion may have been printed by the RBI but not supplied in the market,” said the report authored by Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic adviser, SBI.