After the ghost of demonetisation visited cities in India and ATMs dried up, the cash situation in the country is comfortable now and extra demand is being met, the economic affairs secretary told PTI. The printing of Rs 500 notes have been increased to about Rs 3,000 crore everyday to take care of extra demand, he said.
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A review of the cash situation in the country last week showed that 85 per cent of the ATMs were functional. “Overall in the country, I think its (cash situation) quite comfortable. There is enough cash which is being supplied and there is extra demand which is being fully met. I don’t think there is any cash related crisis or problem at this point of time,” Garg said.
There are about Rs 7 trillion of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation, which is more than adequate and so no new Rs 2,000 notes are being issued. “People use the 500 and 200 and 100 rupee note. They don’t find Rs 2,000 rupee note a very comfortable medium for making transaction. We have ramped up production of Rs 500 note to the level that it is about Rs 2,500-3000 crore a day. So, that is much more than any demand. People’s need for transaction is being taken care of by these,” he said.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been strengthening the security features of currency notes to ensure that they is not duplicated.
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“In last 2.5 years, there has been much less instances, almost non-existent instances, of high quality fake notes being reported in the country. But still RBI keeps on reviewing, finding out, adding new features,” Garg told PTI.