[ad_1]
MUMBAI – India will start withdrawing 2,000-rupee ($24.50) notes from circulation, India’s central bank said on Friday, adding that there was evidence the denomination was not commonly used for transactions.
The RBI said the notes would remain legal tender but people would be asked to deposit and exchange them for smaller denomination notes between May 23 and September 30.
“Stocks of banknotes in other denominations continue to be sufficient to meet the monetary demand of the public,” the RBI added in a statement.
The 2,000 rupee note was introduced in 2016 after the Narendra Modi-led government abruptly withdrew the 500 and 1,000 rupee notes to crack down on counterfeiting. The move took away 86% (by value) of the currency in circulation in the economy.
A few days later, the government started issuing new 500-rupee notes, adding 2,000 to replenish the currency in circulation more quickly.
Since then, however, the central bank has focused on printing Rs 500 and below notes and has not printed new Rs 2,000 notes for the past four years.
“Demonetisation is demonetisation, and it is a sensible form of demonetization,” said Pronab Sen, an economist and former chief statistician of India. “…RBI may set a date when they will will no longer be legal tender.”
($1 = 81.7800 Indian Rupees)
(Reporting by Ira Dugal, Aftab Ahmed and Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Andrew Heavens and John Stonestreet)
[ad_2]
Source link