November 2016- May 2023: The Journey Of The Rs 2000 Notes Over The Years
India withdrew its highest denomination currency note of Rs 2000 from circulation on May 19.
The 2000-rupee note, introduced into circulation in 2016, will remain legal tender but citizens have been asked to deposit or exchange these notes by September 30, 2023.
Back in 2016, the ingress of pink notes into the economy was accompanied by several rumours of them carrying a tracking chip, which were soon busted by the Reserve Bank itself.
The 2,000 notes did carry some security features though, which included latent images, coloured strip security threads and watermarks.
It did not take long for the counterfeit market to produce fake currencies. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, a total of 2,272 fake notes of Rs 2,000 denomination were seized in 2016 itself.
Just a year into circulation, a report by The Indian Express, dated 2017, cited an SBI research which said that the Reserve Bank may have stopped printing the Rs 2,000 notes altogether.
In January 2019, the government indicated that printing of Rs 2,000 notes had been stopped as there was enough stock in circulation. The same was tweeted by the then economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg.
Finally in 2021, the government confirmed to the Lok Sabha that 2,000 currency notes have not been printed in India since 2018.
According to a report by Business Standard, the pink notes comprised only 2% by volume of total floating currency notes as of March 31, 2021.
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RBI Withdraws ₹2000 Note, Read All The Details Here