Note ban effect: Currency printing cost more than doubles to Rs 7,965 crore

Note ban effect - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) spent Rs 7,965 crore on printing currency notes between July 2016 and June 2017, compared to Rs 3,420 crore in 2015-16, an increase of 133%, according to RBI’s annual report 2016-17.

This was highest over the last 17 years, Bloomberg reported on August 30, 2017.

The rise in expenditure was attributed to newly designed notes of higher denominations and the need to replace demonetised currency, the RBI report said. Banknotes were often airlifted from the presses to RBI offices across the country to ensure currency was available after demonetisation, adding to the cost of distribution.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8, 2016 announced the withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes–which constituted 85% of cash in circulation–in a move to fight corruption, black money, money laundering, terrorism and financing of terrorists as well as counterfeit notes, a narrative that kept changing, as IndiaSpend reported on December 5, 2017.

Of Rs 15.44 lakh crore demonetised currency in circulation, about 99% or Rs 15.28 lakh crore came back to the central bank as on June 30, 2017, the annual report said.
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