The Reserve Bank of India has decided to stop issuing currency in the amount of Rs 2,000 and has ordered everyone to swap their notes by September 30, 2023. However, it said that the Rs. 2,000 notes will still be recognised as legal money.
Let us have a close look at the history of the Rs 2,000 note and what the impact of this move by the RBI is.
In November 2016, notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 were demonetized, and their status as legal tender was nullified.
Soon after, the government also introduced notes of Rs. 2000 and Rs. 200 in the Gandhi series of notes after demonetizing 86% of India’s total currency notes.
During the introduction of Rs 2,000 notes, the Modi government promoted them, saying the Rs 2,000 was going to end black money in the country.
However, according to an RTI response from the Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran, "0" 2,000-denomination currency notes were manufactured in 2019–2020, 2020–21, and 2021–2022.
According to NCRB statistics, the amount of counterfeit Rs 2,000 notes recovered in the nation climbed significantly between 2016 and 2020, from 2,272 to 2,44,834 pieces, according to a recent government response in Parliament.
According to the report, there were 2,272 fake Rs 2,000 notes found in the country overall in 2016, 74,898 in 2017, 90,566 in 2019, and 2,44,834 in 2020, a significant rise.
Now this sudden move by the RBI ahead of elections is making netizens question if the government failed at demonization.
According to the Annual Reports of the RBI that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman submitted to Parliament in March, the total face value of the 500 and 2,000 rupee banknotes in circulation as of the end of March 2017 and as of the end of March 2022 was 9.512 trillion rupees and Rs 27.057 trillion, respectively.
