Rs 2000 note: Is it India's highest ever currency note?

Vibha Sharma

Advertisement

Chandigarh, May 22

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) regional offices and other banks will on Tuesday (May 23) start the process of taking back Rs 2,000 notes for exchange with those of lower denomination.

On Monday, the RBI said the decision to withdraw the highest value currency note was a part of the currency management operations.

“Rs 2,000 bank notes were introduced primarily to replenish the notes withdrawn following demonetisation,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said.

Is Rs 2000 India’s highest value currency note ever?

Is Rs 2000 currency note India’s highest value currency note ever? It is not, according to the RBI.

The website of the centralbank in the section ‘currency museum’ states that“high denomination notes (Rs 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000) were reintroduced in 1954. High denomination notes were once again demonetised in 1978 for the same reasons as the 1946 demonetisation,” it states.

In other words, India had currency notes, and of much higher denomination, much before the Rs 2000 note came into existence after the November 2016 demonetisation.

The fact is, the highest denomination note ever printed in India is the Rs 10,000 note in 1938.

It was demonetised in January 1946 but again introduced in 1954.

It was finally demonetised in 1978.

The Rs 5,000 note was printed with the image of Gateway of India and the Rs 10,000 with the Lion Capital, Ashoka Pillar, according to the RBI website.

Currency management

According to the RBI website,“throughout history, the right to Coinage and Currency and issues of sovereignty have been curiously conjoined, emotionally if not rationally. These issues stimulate debate even today.

“The transition of currency management from colonial to independent India was a reasonably smooth affair. Midnight, August 14, 1947 heralded Indian independence from colonial rule. The Republic, however, was established on 26th January, 1950. During the interregnum, the Reserve Bank continued to issue the extant notes,” it states.

In 1953, Hindi was displayed prominently on the new notes.

The debate regarding the Hindi plural of Rupaya was settled in favour of Rupiye, as per the section displaying currency notes printed in India.