Rs.1,000 currency notes to be back soon: Centre

The Union government plans to re-introduce Rs 1,000 currency note with a new design and additional security features once the dust settles on the decision to demonetise high denomination bank notes.The Rs 1,000 currency notes will make a comeback in a few months, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das told reporters here.

The government also has plans to introduce Rs 100 and Rs 50 currency notes with a new design and enhanced security features.Explaining the reason for holding back the release of Rs 1,000 currency notes, Das said maintaining secrecy about the entire exercise was topmost priority, prompting the government to rope in only two to three people for designing the new notes.

“When you change design of notes, it is a laborious process,” he said, adding that if the government had decided in favour of simultaneous release of Rs 1,000 notes, more designers would have to be engaged, thus putting the secrecy element at



risk.

Also, he said, considering the size of the economy and depreciation of rupee, the RBI had recommended introduction of Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 currency notes, a proposal that was rejected by the government. Logistical convenience was another factor that was considered by the government as it was easier to print the less number of notes of a higher value to convert the withdrawn currency notes.

The RBI, time and again, has been introducing new series of currency notes with new design and enhanced security features. The new Rs 500 notes have extra security features, besides having a peculiar colour, theme and size which differentiate the new bills from the earlier series.

Introduced for the first time, the Rs 2,000 notes are of magenta colour with Mangalayan imprinted on the reverse side. The higher value currency notes will have other designs, geometric patterns aligning with the overall colour scheme both on the obverse and reverse.