CM Chandrababu Naidu wants to scrap Rs 500 notes, wants only currency like 100 and Rs 200 in circulation to help tackle corruption

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has reiterated his demand to withdraw Rs 500 notes, saying he will continue to push for a currency system that retains only Rs 100 and Rs 200 notes in circulation.

“I will keep speaking on this. The notes of Rs 500 should be scrapped. Only notes of Rs 100 and Rs 200 should be retained,” Naidu said.

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Addressing a press conference, he said curbing high-value cash and promoting digital transactions can help tackle corruption.

“If technology is perfect, wealth creation and poverty alleviation are not difficult,” he said.

Is there any proposal to withdraw Rs 500, Rs 1,000 notes?

The government announced demonetisation on November 8, 2016, withdrawing the legal tender status of all existing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from the Mahatma Gandhi series. The move was aimed at curbing black money and counterfeit currency. The old notes were later replaced with new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes under the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series.

However, Rs 2,000 notes continue to remain legal tender, even though the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) withdrew them from circulation under its Clean Note Policy.

Since then, claims about the exchange of old currency notes have periodically surfaced, prompting the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to issue fact-checks. However, the RBI has not announced any move to reopen the exchange window for old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Nor has it introduced any new rules allowing the general public to exchange these discontinued notes.

RBI works on plastic notes

The Reserve Bank of India is exploring ways to extend the life of banknotes, according to the central bank’s monthly bulletin released on Tuesday.

RBI Deputy Governor Shirish Chandra Murmu said the central bank is examining measures including surface coatings on banknote substrates and the use of polymer notes for lower denominations. The Indian government has already approved the central bank’s proposal to introduce RBI polymer notes in the ₹10 and ₹20 denominations for field trials, reviving a plan that was first announced more than a decade ago. At the same time, the Centre has made it clear that there is no proposal to replace existing paper-based Indian currency with RBI plastic notes.

Will Indian plastic notes affect digital payments?

On whether RBI plastic notes could affect digital payments, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the currency proposal is still at a preliminary stage and any impact can only be assessed after regular issuance begins. He added that physical banknotes and digital payment systems complement each other and both remain available to the public.

The government has also clarified that RBI polymer notes will circulate alongside existing paper-substrate Indian currency. It said there is no proposal to replace paper banknotes entirely with polymer-based notes.