Rs 200 notes to end inconvenience in daily transactions

Mail Today Bureau        Last Updated: August 24, 2017  | 13:04 IST
Rs 200 notes to end inconvenience in day-to-day transactions

The government on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to the RBI for issuing Rs 200 notes that will help to alleviate the shortage of lower-denomination currency bills in the economy. The finance ministry said in a notification that "on the recommendations of the Board of Directors of the RBI, the central government hereby specifies the denomination of banknotes of the value of two hundred rupees."

The new Rs 200 notes are likely to be in circulation shortly. According to sources, this could be in the last week of August or early September. The exercise of printing Rs 200 denomination notes is being undertaken to further improve the currency situation in the country. The shortage had developed following the shock demonetization in November last year following which large number of 2000 rupee notes were printed to replace the banned 500 and 1000 rupee notes.

 

Although new 500 rupee notes were also issued there was a shortfall ATMs were dispensing more 2000 rupee notes. This had led to a shortage of lower-denomination banknotes which was causing inconvenience to consumers and retailers in their day to day transactions.

The introduction of Rs 200 notes, the problem people face due to high-value Rs 2,000 notes would be taken care of. The Reserve Bank has also introduced new fluorescent blue Rs 50 banknotes.

Meanwhile Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday made it clear that the government is not considering banning Rs 2,000 notes, quashing rumours that had been making the rounds on social media.

 

 

The Congress had also raised the issue in Parliament but the finance minister had refused to get drawn into the discussion based on mere speculation. Jaitley said the Reserve Bank will decide on the timing of issuing the new Rs 200 bill.

The whole process regarding by when the notes will be printed, RBI will take care of that issue. Thus, it would be appropriate for the RBI to announce about dates and matters related to the printing of notes, Jaitley told reporters. When asked whether the government is considering to phase out Rs 2,000 notes, he said: "No, there was no such discussion."