Rs 5000 and Rs 10000 notes were scrapped in 1978 by RBI

In 1978, the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai had scrapped Rs 1,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 notes.

The highest currency note ever printed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was a Rs 10,000 note during the British Raj. It was printed first in 1938 and a new version came in 1954.

According to RBI data, these notes were demonetised in January 1946 and again in January 1978.

When Desai came to power, banknotes of Rs 1,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 were in circulation. But the PM, who also held the finance portfolio, demonetized all these notes in January 1978.

During the Atal Behari Vajpayee era, the Rs 1,000 note made a comeback. In November 2000, these notes were re-introduced on the ground that it would be easier for business transactions. The Rs 500 notes had already returned into circulation in October 1987.

The move was then justified as an attempt to contain the volume of banknotes in circulation due to inflation.

The Rs 50 and Rs 100 banknotes were issued in August 2005, followed by Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations in October 2005 and Rs 10 and Rs 20 in April 2006 and August 2006, respectively.

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