RBI Pushing Printing Presses To Work 24/7 To Print Enough ?500 Notes To Replace Outgoing ?2,000 Ones

At a time when people are lining up at banks to deposit or exchange the outgoing Rs 2,000 notes, the four currency printing presses of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) too are working hard. The reason?

RBI Making Printing Presses Work 24/7

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RBI is asking all four printing presses to work round the clock (24/7) to print enough ?500 notes to replace ?2,000 notes worth ?3.62 trillion being withdrawn from circulation, two people aware of the matter said. This is because more customers are coming forward to exchange ?2,000 notes instead of depositing them, as per a Mint report.

More Customers Exchanging Notes Rather Than Depositing

A visit to MumbaiĄ¯s Zaveri Bazaar, the heart of the city's gold market, revealed that crowds at bank branches have increased. Many customers had come to exchange Rs 2,000 notes, while deposits have been fewer, as per an official at a PSU bank branch.

But is it the first time the printing presses are being pushed to work harder? No. Even in the year 2018, the government had ramped up printing of currency notes and had been operating all the four presses 24x7, as per an official, amid ATMs running dry in many parts of the country. On average, the four presses of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) operate for 18-19 hours daily with a 3-4 hour break. But since the time ATMs ran dry due to "unusual spurt in demand" for cash, the presses are operating 24X7, an official had said as per PTI report.

The official had said that the printing of currency 24x7 was also done post demonetisation in 2016 when the printing of new Rs 2,000 notes was fast tracked to meet the liquidity shortage in the market.

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Also Read: RBI Governor Denies Rumours Of Bringing Back Rs 1,000 Notes

How RBI Prints Notes?

As per the RBI website itself, bank notes are printed at four currency presses, two of which are owned by the government through its corporation, Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd. (SPMCIL), and the other two are owned by the RBI through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Ltd. (BRBNMPL).

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The currency presses of SPMCIL are at Nasik and Dewas. The two presses of BRBNMPL are at Mysuru and Salboni, as per RBI. To know more about how RBI prints and distributes banknotes, click here.

Also Read: Did You Know About India's Rs 10,000 Rupee Note

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