RBI has no plans to introduce Rs 5,000 and 10,000 notes: Finance Ministry

Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Finance said that the matter was examined in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India and the apex bank has not found it suitable to introduce Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 notes.

New Delhi, March 23: The Finance Ministry on Friday confirmed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has no plans to come out with Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 denomination bank notes in next couple of years.

According to Zee News report, in a written reply to Lok Sabha, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Finance said that the matter was examined in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the apex bank has not found it suitable to introduce Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 notes.

Arjun Ram Meghwal, who also represents the core team of Finance Ministry replied in negative when he was asked whether the government proposed to introduce Rs 5,000 and 10,000 denomination notes with a view to reducing the expenditure on the printing of notes in future. 

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called for demonetisation, the RBI had introduced Rs 2,000 note along with a new Rs 500 note, scrapping 86 per cent of the cash currency in circulation across India.

In February, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das had said that the government had no plans to re-introduce 1,000 rupee notes.

Earlier there were reports that RBI had proposed to issue high-value currency notes of Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 but Narendra Modi government finally decided to go in for Rs 2,000 denominations, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was quoted by news agency IANS.

While speaking in a programme with India TV, Arun Jaitley said, “RBI’s original proposal was to print Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 currency notes, one, for (curbing) inflation and two, for convenience in handling. The government thought otherwise because we wanted replacement currency to be available immediately, and hence we decided to go in for Rs 2,000 notes”. Arun Jaitley also said that, as far as there are concerns of issuing Rs 1,000 currency notes, it will be done.