ATMs will no longer dispense Rs 2000 currency notes. Banks are now recalibrating ATMs to replace cassettes that were holding Rs 2000 notes with those for Rs 200 or Rs 100. While there is no official communication in this regard, the measure is being seen as an effort on the part of Reserve Bank of India to keep a control on the total number of high-value currency in circulation. It is being reported that of the 4 cassettes within ATMs, three will have Rs 500 notes, and the fourth will be filled with Rs 100 or Rs 200 notes. Many ATMs have already replaced cassettes holding Rs 2,000 notes, while many are in the process to complete it within a year’s time. However, government officials denied there is any decision to withdraw Rs 2000 currency notes. At most, these notes will be phased out of circulation. An RTI query in October 2019 revealed that the printing of Rs 2000 currency notes had been stopped for the preceding 18 months. The central bank printed 354.30 crore Rs 2000 notes in the financial year 2016-17, which declined to 11.15 crore in 2017-18 and further plunged to 4.67 crore in the year 2018-19, according to the response to the RTI query. There has not been any printing of Rs 2000 currency notes in 2019-20.
