Rs 2,463 billion worth Rs 2,000 notes printed but not supplied

A SBi Research report said that may be RBI is holding back Rs 2,000 notes or could have stopped printing them.

The data presented in the Lok Sabha recently with the one provided by RBI in its annual report earlier, the SBI Ecoflash report said on Wednesday, "we observe" that the value of small denomination currency in circulation up to March 2017 was Rs 3,501 billion.

The report further said that as per the ministry of finance in the Lok Sabha recently, the RBI has printed 16,957 million pieces of Rs 500 notes and 3,654 million pieces of Rs 2,000 notes as on December 8. The total value of such notes translates into Rs 15,787 billion.

"This means that the residual amount of high currency notes (Rs 15,787 billion - Rs 13,324 billion) of Rs 2,463 billion may have been printed by the RBI but not supplied in the market," said the report authored Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic adviser, SBI.