When it comes to currency notes, Rs 500 bills top the demand charts in India, followed by thousand-rupee notes at the second place, an Assocham study based on RBI data said on Friday. Of all bank notes in circulation, Rs 500 denomination bills accounted for 46 <g data-gr-id="42">per <g data-gr-id="54">cent</g></g><g data-gr-id="54">,</g> while thousand-rupee notes were close behind at 39.3 per cent as on March 2015. Showing its poor purchasing power, the Rs 100 notes accounted for just 10.5 <g data-gr-id="43">per cent</g> of total currency notes in circulation.
Among other denominations, twenty-rupee notes account for less than one <g data-gr-id="36">per cent</g> of the currency in circulation and Rs 50 notes are just about 1.2 <g data-gr-id="37">per cent</g> of the cash in circulation, the chamber observed. In March 2013, twenty rupee notes accounted for 5.2 <g data-gr-id="38">per cent</g> of the total cash which got reduced to 0.6 <g data-gr-id="39">per cent</g> in <g data-gr-id="56">March,</g> 2015. While fifty rupee notes accounted for 4.7 <g data-gr-id="40">per cent</g> of the total circulation in the same month of that year.
“The cost of living has gone up so much in the last few years that smaller notes do not fetch you the kind of goods, services that could be bought not in the distant past. What is notable is that these notes have lost a huge value in the last two and half years,” Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said. On the other hand, the thousand-rupee notes made up just about 5.9 <g data-gr-id="41">per cent</g> of the cash in the system in March 2013. Whereas, Rs 500 notes shows the circulation has increased from 14.6 per cent to 46 per cent.
“Today, a <g data-gr-id="35">home maker</g> does not step out of the house with less than Rs 500 in case she wants to make basic purchases like daily vegetables, some atta or loose cooking oil when it comes to labour strata. “For the middle class, the Rs 500 note is just about commuting expenses, tea, coffee in <g data-gr-id="51">office</g>. For buying vegetables and fruits and milk and some <g data-gr-id="49">breads</g>, eggs, etc Rs 1,000 note is a must,” the industry body pointed out.
Notes below the denomination of Rs 20 have lost <g data-gr-id="46">place</g> in circulation with coins taking their place. Even among the coins, it is the Rs 5 coin which is in maximum demand accounting for 33 <g data-gr-id="30">per cent</g> of all coins in circulation, followed by the two-rupee coins (27.8 <g data-gr-id="32">per cent</g>), Assocham said.
Also, a new numbering system and seven new security features will be incorporated in all currency notes, especially in high denomination Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, in order to check the menace of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN). The Bhartiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Pvt Limited (BRBNMPL) and Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) have initiated steps for introduction of the revised number pattern, official sources said earlier in the week.
Initially, it will be made part of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes and, by May next year, currencies of all other denominations will have this feature, they said. Besides, the government has approved seven new security features, details of which are not yet known, in the bank notes.