Share Of Rs 2,000 Notes Continues To Drop, RBI Annual Report Shows
The RBI did not print Rs 2,000 notes for the fourth year running.
The share of the Rs 2,000 notes—the highest currency denomination in India—continues to fall with no new notes being printed for the fourth year running, shows the Reserve Bank of India's annual report.
The notes had been introduced after demonetisation to help push up the value of currency in circulation quickly. Since FY19, however, the central bank has not printed any new notes in this denomination.
The value of the total Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation has now dropped to 13.8% of the total, compared with 17.3% a year ago, the annual report for FY22 shows. Rs 2,000 banknotes now form only 1.6% of the total volume of notes in circulation, compared with 2% in FY21 and 2.4% a year before that.
As of March 31, there were 214 crore notes with the Rs 2,000 denomination in circulation, compared with 245 crore notes a year ago.
Instead, the RBI is printing more Rs 500 notes.
The value of the total Rs 500 banknotes made up 73.3% of the total Rs 31 lakh crore worth banknotes in circulation in FY22. This compares with 68.4% last year.
Volume of Rs 500 notes, as a share of total banknotes in circulation, rose to 35% in the year ended March 31, compared with 31% a year ago and 25.4% in FY20. There were 4,555 crore notes of Rs 500 denomination in circulation in FY22, compared with 3,868 crore notes a year ago. These notes continue to represent the largest share of banknotes in India.
Collectively, high value notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000, constituted 87% of total value of banknotes in circulation as of March 31, as compared with 85.7% a year ago.
Key Highlights
The value and volume of Rs 100 banknotes have also dropped as a share of total banknotes in circulation.
As of March 31, the Rs 100 banknote constituted 5.8% of the total in value terms, compared with 6.7% a year ago.
In volume terms, the share of the Rs 100 note has dropped to 13.9%, compared with 15.3% last year.
Rs 10 notes formed the second highest share of banknotes by volume.
As of March 31, the Rs 10 banknotes constituted 21.3% of the total notes in circulation, compared with 23.6% a year ago.
In value terms, the share of Rs 10 notes remained flat at 0.9%.
Total volume of banknotes in circulation rose 5% year-on-year to 13,053 crore pieces.
Total value of notes in circulation rose to Rs 31.05 lakh crore, up 9.9% year-on-year.