PIB Fact Check, a fact-checking unit of the Press Information Bureau, has recently alerted people against the fake news around Rs 1,000 note. A viral video on social media is claiming that Rs 1,000 notes will come back from January 1, 2023, and Rs 2,000 notes will return to banks. But, PIB has asked citizens not to forward such misleading messages. It further said that the Central Government has not decided to ban Rs 2,000 notes.
It must be noted that Rs 1,000 notes were withdrawn from circulation as part of the government's demonetisation drive to fight the menace of fake currency notes, terror financing, black money and tax evasion. The government then also introduced new Rs 2,000 notes along with new notes of other denominations.
However, the number of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation has decreased drastically recently. As per an RTI reply from the Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran, which works under the RBI, the '0' number of 2,000 denomination currency notes were printed in 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22.
According to RBI annual report released in May earlier this year said, "At the end of March 2020, the number of Rs 2,000 denomination notes in circulation stood at 274 crores, accounting for 2.4 percent of the total number of currency notes in circulation. The count declined to 245 crores or 2 percent of the total banknotes in circulation as of March 2021 and further fell to 214 crores or 1.6 percent at the end of last fiscal year."
Official data have shown that even six years after demonetisation, the currency with the public remains at an all-time high.
Cash usage remains robust with the public, wherein it has been made known that currency with the public stands at a new high of Rs 30.88 lakh crore as of 21 October.
