Modi govt stopped printing Rs 2000 notes since 2019-20, reveals RTI

Five years after the demonetisation, one more proof of its colossal failure came to the fore. An RTI query has revealed that the Government has stopped printing Rs 2000 currency notes since 2019-20.

In the reply to an RTI query, the Government has provided year-wise data of the Rs 2000 currency notes printed by the Government of India.

As per the Government's own reply, while 3542.991 million currency notes of Rs 2000 denomination were printed in 2016-17, it saw a significant decrease the next year and went down to 111.507 million pieces in 2017-18.

In 2018-19, according to the Government’s own data, only 46.690 million Rs 2000 currency notes were printed.

Since 2019-20 the Government has not published a single Rs 2000 currency note.

The Demonetisation which was aimed at cleansing at Black Money from the system and the economy not only made people to stand in queue for hours to withdraw their own money but also has thrown millions below the poverty lines and destroyed MSMEs.

Former Prime Minister and economist Manmohan Singh had called it “an organised plunder and a legalized loot”.

The move, announced by PM Modi on November 8, 2016, as per an estimate, resulted in death of more than 100 people.

Modi had announced that that Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes will no longer be deemed valid at the 8 pm address on November 8, 2016. He had also announced the issuance of a high denomination Rs 2000 currency note to wipe out black money from circulation.

Zee News anchor Sudhir Chaudhary had then claimed that newly inducted Rs 2000 notes had a satellite-connected nanochip.

It is worth mentioning here that, MoS Finance Pankaj Chaudhary had said last year in December that Rs 2000 notes comprised only 1.75% of total banknotes in circulation.

In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Chaudhary had also said that the Government had stopped placing fresh indent from 2018-19.

The printing of banknotes of a particular denomination is decided by the Government in consultation with RBI to maintain desired denomination to fulfil transactional demand of the public.

Famous economist Arun Kumar who is regarded as an authority on the economy of black money all over the world called the Government’s decision to stop printing the Rs 2000 denomination note a “knee-jerk reaction”.

Talking to NH, Kumar who wrote The Black Economy in India, examining the causes and consequences of black income generation and the possible methods for curbing it, said, “The whole exercise should be seen from a convenience point of view…By stopping high denomination notes, you cannot stop the generation of Black Money”.