No Plans To Discontinue ₹2,000 Notes: Junior Finance Minister

The government has said that it has no plans to discontinue ₹2,000 notes and that State Bank of India and Indian Banks have reconfigured their ATMs for currency notes of ₹500 and ₹200. This information was given in Lok Sabha on Monday, in a written response by Junior Finance Minister Anurag Singh Thakur.

As of now, ATMs dispense ₹100, ₹200, ₹500 and ₹2,000 notes. Thakur said that in view of higher circulation of currency notes of ₹500 and ₹200 denominations and the inconvenience faced by customers in exchanging ₹2,000 currency notes, the two public sector banks have issued instructions to field functionaries to reconfigure the ATMs.

He also said that the printing of banknotes of a particular denomination is decided by the government, in consultation with the RBI, to maintain the desired denomination mix for facilitating the transactional demand of the public. “No indent was placed with the presses for the printing of ₹2,000 denomination notes for FY20. However, there is no decision to discontinue their printing,” he said.

Till date, ₹2,000 banknotes worth ₹7.40-lakh crore, have been printed and supplied. As on March 5, the total face value of banknotes of ₹2,000 denomination in circulation and in currency chests, was ₹5.49-lakh crore and ₹0.93-lakh crore, respectively.

In a separate question related to ponzi schemes, Thakur said that as on date more than 1,600 cases of unauthorised deposit collection were discussed at State-Level Coordination Committee (SLCC) meetings. The Sachet portal of the RBI, which is the online platform for SLCCs that facilitates the public to lodge complaints of financial frauds, has received 5,225 complaints as on March, 31, 2019.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has informed that during the last three years and current year (till February 29), the Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) has submitted investigation reports in 15 cases involving 112 companies, which were allegedly involved in unauthorised Ponzi activities.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered 146 cases related to unauthorised Ponzi companies in the last four years as on February 29. Similarly, in the same period, capital market regulator SEBI passed orders against 75 entities for non-compliance of rules.

According to Thakur, in order to check ponzi schemes and protect the interests of people, the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act, 2019, was made effective from February 21, 2019. At the same time, 29 States / Union Territories passed respective Protection of Interest of Depositors (PID) Acts for taking action against the entities that collect money from the public illegally.

Thakur said that GST rates and cess on goods are fixed on the basis of recommendations of the GST Council. “At present, there is no proposal to review compensation cess imposed on tobacco products by the GST Council,” he made it clear.