Six months after demonetisation, there is still no Rs 1000 notes: When will the RBI issue it?
The government issued Rs 500 notes bringing relief to people who were struggling to make transactions with high-value new Rs 2,000 notes the Modi government had issued after note ban.
Six months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, there is still no information on when the Reserve Bank of India will issue new Rs 1000 notes. While the central bank has remained mum on the issuance of new thousand notes, there were many reports right after demonetisation that said the RBI and the government would launch a new series of Rs 1000 notes.
The government issued Rs 500 notes bringing relief to people who were struggling to make transactions with high-value new Rs 2000 notes the Modi government had issued after note ban. However, the absence of Rs 1000 notes continue to create problems for shopkeepers and customers while exchanging Rs 2000 notes at retail outlets as customers often take out high-value note to make small payments.
High value currency-change problem at retail shops is real. Narrating an incident where a customer had to drop his stuff after shopkeepers denied him change, a Delhi-based resident Sarvjeet Singh said:"Recently I visited a grocery store where I made a purchase of Rs 160. When I gave Rs 2000 note, the shopkeeper expressed his inability to change it. Eventually, I had to leave the packets there."
When asked as to why he did not pay Rs 500 notes or through digital wallets, Singh said: "Most of the time I get only Rs 2000 notes from ATMs and as far as digital wallet is concerned, I was ready to pay through Paytm but the shopkeeper's daily limit was over."
Even though many traders and shopkeepers had started accepting online payments through Paytm and other service providers immediately after the note ban, many of them have stopped it now as they prefer to deal in cash. This has made the absence of Rs 1000 notes all the more painful for many people.
Earlier in February, the Indian Express reported that the RBI had already started production of the new Rs 1000 note. According to the report, the new currency was scheduled to come in January, however, it was delayed due to the pressing need to supply Rs 500 notes.
This wasn't the first media report on new Rs 1000 currency notes. Two days after the demonetisation, the Hindu had reported that the RBI would issue fresh currency notes in denominations of Rs 1000 with new designs, specifications and enhanced security features.
The report quoted no less than Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das who said: "In due course, Rs 1000 notes will come back in the market with new dimensions, new design and new colour." Shaktikanta Das was speaking at the Economic Editors' Conference.
Now that the situation has normalized and cash-flow in the economy is adequate, it remains to be seen if the central bank will come up with new Rs 1000 currency notes. However, no official word or confirmation from the government or the central bank has come so far.
Meanwhile, here's a list of currency-related announcements that RBI made after demonetisation: Dec 29, 2016: Issue of Rs 20 banknotes without inset letterThe RBI said that it will issue Rs 20 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005, without inset letter in both the number panels, bearing signature of RBI Governor Dr Urjit Patel and the year of printing '2016' printed on the reverse of the banknote. The design and security features of these banknotes to be issued now is similar to the old Rs 20 banknotes with the ascending size of numerals in the number panels, without intaglio printing, without latent image, and without identification mark.
Feb 03, 2017: Issue of Rs 100 banknotes with the inset letter 'R'The central bank said that it will shortly issue Rs 100 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005, with the inset letter 'R' in both the number panels, bearing the signature of Reserve Bank of India Governor Dr Urjit R Patel, and the year of printing '2017' printed on the reverse of the banknote. The design of these banknotes to be issued now are similar in all respects to the Rs 100 banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi Series- 2005 issued earlier .
Mar 09, 2017: Issue of Rs 10 banknotes with improved security featuresThe RBI announced that it would issue Rs 10 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005 with inset letter 'L' in both the number panels, bearing the signature of Dr Urjit R Patel, and the year of printing '2017' printed on the reverse of the banknote. The numerals in both the number panels of these banknotes were in the ascending size from left to right while the first three alpha-numeric characters (prefix) remained constant in size.
Six months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, there is still no information on when the Reserve Bank of India will issue new Rs 1000 notes. While the central bank has remained mum on the issuance of new thousand notes, there were many reports right after demonetisation that said the RBI and the government would launch a new series of Rs 1000 notes.
The government issued Rs 500 notes bringing relief to people who were struggling to make transactions with high-value new Rs 2000 notes the Modi government had issued after note ban. However, the absence of Rs 1000 notes continue to create problems for shopkeepers and customers while exchanging Rs 2000 notes at retail outlets as customers often take out high-value note to make small payments.
High value currency-change problem at retail shops is real. Narrating an incident where a customer had to drop his stuff after shopkeepers denied him change, a Delhi-based resident Sarvjeet Singh said:"Recently I visited a grocery store where I made a purchase of Rs 160. When I gave Rs 2000 note, the shopkeeper expressed his inability to change it. Eventually, I had to leave the packets there."
When asked as to why he did not pay Rs 500 notes or through digital wallets, Singh said: "Most of the time I get only Rs 2000 notes from ATMs and as far as digital wallet is concerned, I was ready to pay through Paytm but the shopkeeper's daily limit was over."
Even though many traders and shopkeepers had started accepting online payments through Paytm and other service providers immediately after the note ban, many of them have stopped it now as they prefer to deal in cash. This has made the absence of Rs 1000 notes all the more painful for many people.
Earlier in February, the Indian Express reported that the RBI had already started production of the new Rs 1000 note. According to the report, the new currency was scheduled to come in January, however, it was delayed due to the pressing need to supply Rs 500 notes.
This wasn't the first media report on new Rs 1000 currency notes. Two days after the demonetisation, the Hindu had reported that the RBI would issue fresh currency notes in denominations of Rs 1000 with new designs, specifications and enhanced security features.
The report quoted no less than Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das who said: "In due course, Rs 1000 notes will come back in the market with new dimensions, new design and new colour." Shaktikanta Das was speaking at the Economic Editors' Conference.
Now that the situation has normalized and cash-flow in the economy is adequate, it remains to be seen if the central bank will come up with new Rs 1000 currency notes. However, no official word or confirmation from the government or the central bank has come so far.
Meanwhile, here's a list of currency-related announcements that RBI made after demonetisation: Dec 29, 2016: Issue of Rs 20 banknotes without inset letterThe RBI said that it will issue Rs 20 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005, without inset letter in both the number panels, bearing signature of RBI Governor Dr Urjit Patel and the year of printing '2016' printed on the reverse of the banknote. The design and security features of these banknotes to be issued now is similar to the old Rs 20 banknotes with the ascending size of numerals in the number panels, without intaglio printing, without latent image, and without identification mark.
Feb 03, 2017: Issue of Rs 100 banknotes with the inset letter 'R'The central bank said that it will shortly issue Rs 100 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005, with the inset letter 'R' in both the number panels, bearing the signature of Reserve Bank of India Governor Dr Urjit R Patel, and the year of printing '2017' printed on the reverse of the banknote. The design of these banknotes to be issued now are similar in all respects to the Rs 100 banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi Series- 2005 issued earlier .
Mar 09, 2017: Issue of Rs 10 banknotes with improved security featuresThe RBI announced that it would issue Rs 10 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005 with inset letter 'L' in both the number panels, bearing the signature of Dr Urjit R Patel, and the year of printing '2017' printed on the reverse of the banknote. The numerals in both the number panels of these banknotes were in the ascending size from left to right while the first three alpha-numeric characters (prefix) remained constant in size.