It refers to media-reports about Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issuing new series of rupees 100 notes with same design but with signature of new RBI governor Urjit Patel. Earlier new series of currency-notes of rupees 20 and 50 were issued as per RBI notification dated 04.12.2016 which were equal in sizes and similar in design to earlier currency-notes of respective same denominations, except for some light colour of front portions of these notes due to change in print-procedure and signed by new RBI governor Urjit R Patel.
Issuance of similar sized notes of rupees 20, 50 and 100 will be disproportionate to small-sized new currency-notes of rupees 500 and 2000. There had been quite sufficient time for all concerned ones including central government, RBI, subsidiary companies of RBI, and Security Printing & Minting Company Limited (SPMCIL) to design new currency-notes in denominations of rupees 20, 50, 100 in tune with size and design of newly issued rupees-500 currency-note. Polymer/plastic notes in one of these denominations could also be issued on experimental basis with currency-notes in ten-rupee denomination not printed any more.
There are apprehensions that decision to continue lower-denomination notes of rupees 20 and 50 in earlier sizes is taken so as to continue printing of one-rupee note. If bureaucratic intentions are clear, then any further printing of one-rupee notes should be discontinued. New notes in denominations of rupees 20, 50, 100 should be issued in smaller sizes than earlier ones with designs in tune with newly issued rupees-500 notes. Since currency-crunch is gradually coming to an end, any further printing of 2000-rupees notes should be stopped. However currency-notes of 200-rupees denominations can instead be printed.
SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL