2K note circulation falls 12.6% in FY22

Significantly, the RBI has not supplied new Rs 2,000 notes in the last four years. The RBI introduced Rs 2,000 note after demonetisation in November 2016 when Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes were withdrawn. While the RBI withdrew the Rs 1,000 note from the system, a newly designed Rs 500 was introduced in 2016.

According to the RBI, the value of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation fell by 12.60 per cent to Rs 428,394 crore in March 2022 from Rs 490,195 crore last year. It was Rs 547,9522 crore in March 2020.

However, the number of Rs 500 notes in circulation increased to 455,468 lakh pieces in March 2022 from 386,790 lakh pieces in the previous year, the central bank said in its Annual Report. During the last fiscal, 128,003 pieces of Rs 500 notes were supplied as against 128,000 pieces a year ago. The total value of 13,05,326 lakh pieces was Rs 31.05 lakh crore as of March 2022, the RBI said.

The indent of banknotes for 2021-22 was marginally lower by 1.8 per cent than that of a year ago. The supply of banknotes was also marginally lower by 0.4 per cent during 2021-22 than the previous year.

Meanwhile, according to an RBI survey, among banknotes, Rs 100 was the most preferred while Rs 2,000 was the least preferred denomination. “Among coins, denomination of Rs 5 was the most preferred whereas Re one was the least preferred. Watermark of Mahatma Gandhi image followed by windowed security thread were the most recognised security feature,” it said.

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The value and volume of banknotes in circulation increased by 9.9 per cent and 5.0 per cent, respectively, during 2021-22 as compared with 16.8 per cent and 7.2 per cent, respectively, during 2020-21. In value terms, the share of Rs 500 and Rs 2000 banknotes together accounted for 87.1 per cent of the total value of banknotes in circulation as on March 31, 2022, as against 85.7 per cent as of March 2021.

During 2021-22, the Reserve Bank focused on augmenting disposal of soiled notes, enhancing public awareness, understanding public demand and expectations from banknotes, making available adequate quantity of clean notes and maintaining sufficient buffer stock to meet any contingency requirements on account of COVID-19 pandemic, the RBI said.

Fake notes

The RBI said there was an increase of 16.4 per cent, 16.5 per cent, 11.7 per cent, 101.9 per cent and 54.6 per cent in the counterfeit notes detected in the denominations of Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 200, Rs 500 (new design) and Rs 2000, respectively. The counterfeit notes detected in the denominations of Rs 50 and Rs 100 declined by 28.7 per cent and 16.7 per cent, respectively, it said in the Annual Report.

During 2021-22, out of the total fake notes detected in the banking sector, 6.9 per cent were detected at the Reserve Bank and 93.1 per cent at other banks.