Mumbai: The new Rs50 banknote will be issued shortly by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the Mahatma Gandhi series, the central bank said in release on Friday.
Banknotes issued under earlier series will remain legal tender, it clarified.
With fluorescent blue as its base colour, the new notes will bear the picture of the iconic stone chariot at Hampi, Karnataka on the reverse. The new note will measure 66 mm x 135 mm.
RBI has stopped printing Rs2,000 notes and has stepped up production of notes of other denominations, including new Rs200 notes, Mint reported on 26 July.
About 3.7 billion Rs2,000 notes, amounting to Rs7.4 trillion have been printed, the report said. That more than compensates for the 6.3 billion Rs1,000 notes that were withdrawn in early November 2016.
RBI issued new Rs2,000 and Rs500 currency notes after the 8 November announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which Rs500 and Rs1,000 banknotes were stripped of their legal tender status.
RBI data shows that currency in circulation stood at Rs15.70 trillion as on 11 August, over nine months after demonetization. This is about 88.70% of the Rs 17.7 trillion that was in circulation on 4 November
.
