New Delhi: The government has removed the overprinting of 2,000 rupees banknotes, stating that the banknote with the highest denomination has not been printed in the past two years. In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur said that as of March 30, 2018, 3,362 million banknotes with a face value of 2,000 rupees were in circulation, which is 3.27 percent and 37.26 percent of the currency in terms of currency on the volume corresponds or trade.
As of February 26, 2021, there were 2,499 million Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation, corresponding to 2.01 percent and 17.78 percent of the banknotes in terms of volume and value, respectively.
Thakur said, “The printing of banknotes of a specific denomination will be decided by the government, in consultation with the RBI, to keep the desired mix of denominations in order to facilitate public transaction demand.” In 2019-20 and 2020-21 there was no feeder was placed with the printing machines for printing banknotes with a face value of Rs 2000. “
At the beginning of 2019, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had stated that in the 2016-17 financial year (April 2016 to March 2017) 3,542.991 million banknotes worth Rs 2,000 were printed, but in 2017-18 they were printed only 111.507 million banknotes, which was further reduced to 46.690 million banknotes in 2018-19. It added that no new Rs 2,000 banknotes have been printed since April 2019.
The move is seen as an attempt to prevent the high-quality currency from being hoarded and thus curb black money.
Specifically, Rs 2,000 banknotes were introduced in November 2016, shortly after the government withdrew Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes to curb black money and fake currencies.
While a new Rs 500 banknote was being printed, Rs 1,000 banknotes were discontinued. Instead, Rs 2,000 note was introduced. In addition to Rs 2000, the other banknotes in circulation have the denominations Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50 and Rs 100.
With gasoline and diesel prices soaring, MOS for Finance Anurag Thakur said Monday that both the center and states need to consider cutting taxes on these products.
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When asked in Lok Sabha, Thakur also replied that the government was ready to discuss the issue of bringing petroleum products within the scope of the goods and services tax (GST). He said, “The center is ready to consider the idea of lowering taxes on gasoline and diesel. States should consider that too.”
The minister said: “The state governments should lower taxes on gasoline. We (the center) will also try to lower taxes on gasoline.” Both the center and states need to think about it (lower taxes on gasoline). ”
Thakur also pointed out that the price of crude oil was around $ 19 per barrel in March 2020, and the price of crude oil is now around $ 65 per barrel.
On the reason the government did not bring petroleum products under the GST, as then-Treasury Secretary Arun Jaitley had promised, Thakur said no state has yet made a proposal.
(With agency entries)
