The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said in a report that after the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes from the market, the circulation of Rs 500 notes has increased rapidly.
The circulation of Rs 500 notes has seen a rapid increase in the financial year ending March 2024. According to the RBI report, the number of notes increased by 7.8% year-on-year during the financial year 2024 to 14,687.5 crore notes. Rs 500 notes were the highest among the notes in circulation, which increased by 16.5% year-on-year to 6,017.7 crore notes by financial year 2024. Overall, the number of Rs 500 notes in circulation increased by 85,432 lakh in FY 24, while 5,163.3 crore notes were in circulation in the previous financial year.
This was followed by Rs 10 notes (10 Rs Note). In terms of value, the share of Rs 500 notes in circulation increased and stood at 86.5% of the total bank notes worth Rs 34.77 lakh crore in circulation. This was possible because the number of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation declined sharply.
97.7% of 2000 notes returned by March 2024
RBI had announced the withdrawal of 2,000 rupee notes from circulation in May 2023. At that time, the value of these notes was Rs 3.56 lakh crore and the central bank gave the option to either exchange them with other notes or deposit them in bank accounts. RBI said that by March 2024, 97.7% of the notes had returned to the banking system.
Volume of 200 rupee notes increased
The circulation of most notes of different values declined between April 2022 and March 2024, while bank notes of Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 500 remained in high circulation. According to the RBI’s annual report, the amount of Rs 100 notes in circulation increased from 1,805.84 crores in the financial year 2022-23 to 2,056.5 crores in the next financial year. Whereas, the amount of Rs 200 notes increased by 23.1% year-on-year to 771.08 crores in 2022-23.
