It has been seven months after demonetization slowed down consumer transactions in the country, the Reserve Bank of India has begun to print bills of 200 rupees to help ease consumer transactions. It seems the re-monetization exercise appears to be entering its final lap, with the central bank beginning to print bills of 200 rupees perhaps for the first time.

The notes of Rs 200 denomination are being printed in one of the government-owned facilities at Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh) after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placed an order a few weeks ago for the bills, the reports said.

“For day-to-day transaction purposes, the introduction of 200 rupee notes will add to the ease of operations. A minor part of that has been replenished by 2000 rupee notes and a larger part by the new 500 rupee notes, though not in full. The introduction of 200 rupee notes will replenish the missing middle, triggered by the withdrawal of the old series of 500 rupee notes,” said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economist at the SBI Group.

“The new 200 notes will carry advanced security features. The authorities are taking extra precaution to prevent counterfeiting,” added source. Currently, those notes are going through different levels of security and quality checks at the government’s press unit.

A few of months back, the central bank had passed the proposal to issue Rs 200 banknotes. However, RBI board had in March cleared the proposal to issue banknotes of Rs 200 denomination. The government, too, had examined the introduction of the new notes. The Rs 200 currency note would be third in line to be printed following demonetization.

RBI started introducing new high-value notes in the banking system after over 86 per cent of the total currency in circulation was scrapped through demonetization on November 2016. After the demonetization move was announced on November 8, roughly 1,650 crore pieces of Rs 500 notes were removed from the system leaving a large gap in the value of notes in circulation.

During demonetization, the government had ordered the withdrawal of the then existing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, which accounted for about 86% of currency in circulation of Rs 17.9 lakh crore. As on June 9 this year, the currency circulation with the public is at Rs 14.6 lakh crore, still 18.4% lower than the pre-demonetization level.

The new Rs 500 replaced the old one and Rs 2,000 note replaced the old Rs 1,000 note. Earlier, the reports show that the RBI is unlikely to circulate Rs 200 notes through ATMs so as to avoid the tedious process of recalibrating the machines. The central bank wants to circulate the new notes through bank branches.

The printing of notes is being done either in printing units run by the government-run Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd or at printing presses in Mysore (Karnataka) and Salboni (West Bengal), managed by the RBI-owned Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Ltd.