The Centre’s Narendra Modi government has clarified that it had no plans to reintroduce Rs 1,000 notes as reported in media on Tuesday.
Taking to Twitter, the Economic Affairs Secretary, Shaktikanta Das, said, “No plans to introduce ₹1000 notes. Focus is on production and supply of ₹500 and lower denomination notes.”
Das said that his government’s priority was to ensure the the cash availability ATMs, many of which were running low on cash or had gone dry for several weeks.
In another tweet, he said, “Complaints of cash out in ATMs being addressed.Request everyone to draw the cash they actually require.Overdrawal by some deprives others.”
On Tuesday, Indian Express reported that the Reserve Bank of India and the government had made up their minds to reintroduce Rs 1,000 notes to replace the note of similar value, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared invalid on 8 November last year.
The news had angered many hardcore Modi supporter journalists, who desperately expected a denial from the government.
This report says Rs 1000 notes are being printed. If there is no denial by RBI or Govt, story holds.https://t.co/h7aivAKNvp
— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) February 21, 2017
Quoting senior government officials, the paper reported that the RBI had already started production of the new Rs 1,000 notes.
The news came a day after Baba Ramdev said the Rs 2,000 should be withdrawn calling the denomination as the root cause for economic crimes.
PM Modi on 8 November had declared Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes illegal blaming them for promoting black money. The government had then introduced new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes.
More than 200 people had died due to demonetisation related stress. The government and the RBI had come under plenty of criticism for constantly changing policies during the demonetisation period. More than 70 new rules were passed during the 50 day period of the note ban.
Prime Minister Modi had promised to restore normalcy by 30 December, but ATMs across the country continue to remain without cash.
