New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to start printing new Rs 100 notes around April next year, two central bank officials said. Printing of the notes will begin after the central bank’s printing presses are done with new Rs 200 notes by March.
The existing Rs 100 notes will be withdrawn gradually without any disruption, a government official said, requesting anonymity. The size and dimensions of the new Rs 100 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 Rs 50 note to add security features.
India banned the old Rs 500 notes and Rs 1000 notes as part of a demonetisation exercise in November 2016. The two notes together accounted for 86% of the currency in circulation at the time. In December, RBI officials had said that all currency notes will be redesigned.
Since then, the government has changed the Rs 500 notes and Rs 50 notes, and introduced new denominations of Rs 200 and Rs 2000. Meanwhile, two officials working at different banks added that the exercise of dispensing the Rs 200 notes through ATMs is likely to take around six months. Their printing will depend on the demand and feedback received from the select bank branches that have started dispensing the new notes.
The government introduced the Rs 200 notes to help people change high-value currency notes. According to a State Bank of India (SBI) report, 43.6% of the total cash circulation is in Rs 500 notes while Rs 100 notes account for just over 20%.