Currency in circulation at Rs 31.22L cr as of March 2022

New Delhi: The currency in circulation has gone up to Rs 31.33 lakh crore in March 2022, from Rs 13 lakh crore in 2014, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The currency in circulation, which includes bank notes and coins, to GDP ratio stood at 13.7 per cent as on March 25, 2022, up from 11.6 per cent as on March 2014.

Although the cash in circulation had dipped after demonetisation to Rs 13.35 lakh crore as of March 2017 from Rs 16.63 lakh crore as of March 2016.

However, since then cash in circulation has been rising in the economy from Rs 18.29 lakh crore in March 2018 to Rs 21.36 lakh crore and Rs 24.47 lakh crore in March 2019 and March 2020, respectively. At the end of March 2021 and 2022, it was Rs 28.53 lakh crore and Rs 31.33 lakh crore, respectively.

“The mission of the government is to move towards a less cash economy to reduce generation and circulation of black money and to promote digital economy,” Sitharaman said. She also said that digital or e-rupee worth over Rs 130 crore is in circulation on a pilot basis as of February 28.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had launched pilots in digital rupee in the wholesale segment (e`-W) on November 1, 2022 and in the retail segment (e`-R) on December 1, 2022.

Nine banks, viz., State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank and HSBC, have been participating in the digital rupee wholesale pilot, Sitharaman said. “As on February 28, 2023, the total digital rupee - Retail (e`-R) and digital rupee - wholesale (e`-W) in circulation is Rs 4.14 crore and Rs 126.27 crore, respectively,” Sitharaman said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.