On Friday, the Finance Ministry rubbished the media reports which claimed that government had stopped the printing of the Rs 2,000 currency note as it was being used for “hoarding, tax evasion, and money laundering” purposes. The Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Subhash Chandra Garg tweeted, “Printing of notes is planned as per the projected requirement. We have more than adequate notes of Rs 2000 in the system with over 35% of notes by value in circulation being of Rs 2000. There has been no decision regarding 2000 rupee note production recently.”
Printing of notes is planned as per the projected requirement. We have more than adequate notes of Rs 2000 in the system with over 35% of notes by value in circulation being of Rs 2000. There has been no decision regarding 2000 rupee note production recently.
— Subhash Chandra Garg (@Subhashgarg1960) January 4, 2019
The Rs 2,000 note was introduced in November 2016, after the Modi government demonetised high-value currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 in order to curb black money and fake currency.
According to RBI Data, there were 3,285 million pieces of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation at the end of March 2017. On March 31, 2018, it witnessed a marginal increase in the number to reach 3,363 million pieces. Rs 2000 notes accounted for 37.3 per cent of the total currency in circulation at the end of March 2018.
The Swarajya Mag CEO Prasanna Vishwanathan said, “Such is desperation level of Conmedia outfits that a July 2017 report by @Livemint on stopping Rs 2000 note printing is now repackaged as new exclusive story by The Print.”
Such is desperation level of Conmedia outfits that a July 2017 report by @Livemint on stopping Rs 2000 note printing is now repackaged as new exclusive story by The Print
Livemint 7/17 report https://t.co/uMKJgcPCW6
Now claimed as new exclusive https://t.co/pyTMaAIjXL— Prasanna Viswanathan (@prasannavishy) January 4, 2019
Political parties used misleading media reports to peddle their political agenda. Instead of working to stop the spread of misinformation, they were busy giving it more air.
Modi govt. continues in its fine tradition of taking ill-informed decisions. Two years after the introduction of the Rs 2000 note, the Modi Govt backtracks in an effort to stop hoarding black money. https://t.co/MnV1Jfk9Jm https://t.co/VZV4cio95t
— Congress (@INCIndia) January 3, 2019
More than ₹8000 Cr was spent to print ₹2000 notes after demonetisation, just to stop printing it after 2 years?
If wasting public money is an art, then @narendramodi is Picasso of it. Never mind, this Picasso shall never be appreciated.https://t.co/Yz58mfl5Wt
— Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) January 3, 2019
Modi Sarkar is waking up to its blunders after losing 5 state elections
1st, we saw the reversal of Gabbar Singh Tax
Now, another U-turn by stopping the printing of the 2000 rupee note
If you can't run a govt, please leave it to those with experience https://t.co/ZXgPo1CHT4
— Rajeev Gowda (@rajeevgowda) January 3, 2019
Many Twitter handles were using misleading reports claiming that the printing of the Rs 2,000 has been banned and this was just done in order to peddle their nefarious agenda. They claimed that the Modi government has already hoarded enough Rs 2,000 currency notes, and now its production has been reduced in order to stop other political parties to get Rs 2,000 currency notes. In such a case, the propagandists feel, the party having more Rs 2,000 currency notes would have an edge over the party having less number of high denomination currency notes.
If Rs.2000 notes are progressively reduced and become less available the political party which corners more Rs.2000 notes will have advantage of being more mobile with cash stacked in smaller bags during elections. An intended consequence of Demont? Just joking!
— M K Venu (@mkvenu1) January 3, 2019
Some conspiracy theorists even claimed that the Modi government, having already hoarded enough money plans for another demonetization ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Last time when the Modi government had brought demonetization ahead of UP state assembly elections, it got a gigantic majority in the state.
However, the central government’s clarification has once again exposed the hollowness of such misleading reports and baseless claims.
Earlier, also there were many reports speculating that government may withdraw Rs 2,000 currency notes. These speculations were so high that on August 10, the Centre had to clarify about having no proposal to withdraw Rs 2,000 currency notes. Pon Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for Finance, had said, “There is no such proposal.”