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Transactions in the economy could become a tad smoother as the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday said it will issue ₹200 denomination banknotes on Friday. These notes will be issued from select central bank offices and banks. The base colour of the note, which is in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series, is bright yellow. It has a motif of the Sanchi Stupa on the reverse, according to an RBI statement.
The salient features of the new note on the obverse include a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at the centre, windowed security thread with inscriptions Bharat (in Devnagari) and RBI with colour shift (the colour of the thread changes from green to blue when the note is tilted), denominational numeral with rupee symbol, ₹200 in colour-changing ink (green to blue) on the bottom right, and the Ashoka Pillar emblem on the right.
On the reverse, the features include the year of printing of the note on the left, the Swachh Bharat logo with slogan and a motif of the Sanchi Stupa.
For the visually impaired, the features include intaglio or raised printing of Mahatma Gandhi portrait, Ashoka Pillar emblem, raised identification mark H with micro-text ₹200, four angular bleed lines with two circles in between the lines — both on the right and the left sides.
‘Facilitating exchange’The RBI in a statement said: “To achieve the optimal system of currency that would minimise the number of denominations while increasing the probability of proffering exact change, especially at the lower end of denominations, there is a logical need to introduce the missing denomination of ₹200, which will make the present currency system more efficient. Provision of the new denomination, therefore, would facilitate exchange, particularly for the common man who deals with denominations at the lower end.”
“So, what should be the optimal mix of currency denominations? Many countries have opted to use a near variation of the Renard Series, ie, 1:2 or 1:2.5 ratio between adjacent denominations of currency, which means that the denomination should be twice or two-and-half times its preceding denomination. Such a ratio allows exchange of value ordinarily in a maximum of three denominations.
“In India, we have currency denominations of ₹ 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 2,000. As such, in the lower end of the denomination series, ₹200 is the missing one,” said the statement.
“It is good that the RBI is introducing a banknote between ₹100 and ₹500. It is time they re-introduced the ₹1,000 banknotes,” said a senior public sector banker.
On August 18, the RBI said it will shortly issue ₹50 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series. The base colour of the note is fluorescent blue.
In November 2016, the RBI had introduced new banknotes of ₹500 and ₹2,000 denominations with base colours of stone grey and magenta, respectively. Post demonetisation, the central bank has been introducing colourful banknotes.
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