Santosh Kumar Gangwar, says Rs 2,000 note will remain

Hyderabad: Minister of state for finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar has said that “there was no news of its scrapping of Rs 2,000 currency note”. However, he confirmed that the new Rs 200 note — the first of this denomination ever — will be in circulation soon. “No news that Rs 2,000 will be scrapped,” Mr Gangwar told new agency IANS in an interview.

Reports of RBI stopping the printing of Rs 2,000 notes had led to rumours of the Central government planning to a withdrawal of them. SBI’s recalibration of its 2,000 note cassettes in its some of its ATMs to dispense Rs 500 notes also to add to speculation.

It finally gained credence after finance minister Arun Jaitley refused to deny the reports despite Opposition parties’ demand. “The reduction in printing of new Rs 2,000 notes is a separate issue. But that needs to be confirmed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). RBI will give information on Rs 2,000 notes,” he told the agency.

Mr Gangwar told IANS that Rs 200 note, printing of which had already begun, would be in circulation soon. The move to introduce Rs 200 note was to increase the circulation of smaller denomination notes, he added.

While an SBI Ecowrap report said that Rs 200 notes would be introduced in the coming months, a media report claimed that the new denomination could be introduced next month. The printing is already reportedly in advanced stages.