RBI to increase supply of Rs 200 banknotes

In a press release, RBI stated, "The production of Rs 200 notes is being ramped up by the currency printing presses, and over time as more notes are printed, it will be distributed across the country through the banking channels and will be available for public in adequate quantity". 

At present, Rs 200 notes are being available only through select RBI offices and banks. However, RBI still has not made it clear when will these notes will be dispensed from ATMs. 

The Reserve Bank of India will soon increase the supply of newly introduced Rs 200 banknotes. The Central Bank issued the Rs 200 notes with a view to deal with the the crisis of low availability of lower denomination notes in the circulation. 

Last month, R Gandhi, former deputy governor of RBI in charge of currency management, said, "It is very important to have various denominations of currency in a country and the Rs 200 was a missing link in the lower denomination.  

The new notes will help in speeding up transactions, especially for the common man. It may, however, take a while before it is available at the ATMs as the dimensions are different. However, banks can recalibrate it in the normal course of business make it first available in the branches and then gradually in the ATMs". 

The currency in the ATMs are held in specific decks called the cassettes and depending on the size of the currency these cassettes have to be physically changed to fit in the new currency. 

Himanshu Pujara, managing director, Euronet India, said, "Since the length of the Rs 200 currency is different from the existing currency dispensed from the ATMs (100, 500, 2000), the cassette calibration is required to be done.  

ATM manufacturers need to do a complete testing of the new Rs 200 denomination currency and provide the parameters which need to be configured at the ATM by an engineer. At ATM switch level, we will require to do switch configuration and complete testing of new 200 denomination currency before implementation." 

Navroze Dastur, chief operating officer, NCR, the largest ATM operator in India, said, "We have to test-run the currency and see how the new configuration works in the ATM. But it will be a much smaller exercise. 

ATMs will be fully operational even during recalibration. But we still have not got the physical currency in our hands. But it will certainly improve liquidity and improve the ease of transactions."