According to media reports, activist Manoranjan Roy’s alleged findings under India’s Right to Information Act reveal that India’s central bank did not receive 1,760.65 million currency notes of ₹500 each. The missing notes amount to a staggering ₹88,032.5 crore (approximately $11 billion).
Roy expressed concern about the indifference of the apex bank towards the significant discrepancy between the high denomination currency notes printed in the mints and the total amount received in the RBI vaults. Quoted by the Free Press Journal, Roy emphasized that the absence of 1,760.65 million pieces raises security concerns regarding the stability of the Indian economy.
The Reserve Bank of India’s money-minting press in Nashik, Maharashtra, reportedly issued a total of 8,810.65 million pieces of the newly designed ₹500 notes. However, according to Roy’s findings, the RBI only received 7,260 million pieces. These details were reported by the Free Press Journal.
While the Report of the Currency Note Press, Nashik confirms the supply of the newly designed ₹500 currency notes to the central bank, the RBI’s annual report, available to the public, does not mention receiving any ₹500 notes with the new design. As per the Free Press Journal’s report, the information provided by the Currency Note Press states that 1,662.000 million pieces of the newly designed ₹500 note were supplied to the RBI in 2016-2017.
Furthermore, the Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran (P) Limited in Bengaluru supplied 5,195.65 million pieces of ₹500 notes, while the Bank Note Press in Dewas supplied 1,953.000 million pieces to the RBI in 2016-2017. Out of these quantities, the RBI only received 7,260 pieces of the newly designed ₹500 notes from all three printing presses.
There appears to be a significant mismatch, as the total number of newly designed ₹500 notes printed by the three units amounts to 8,810.65 million pieces, whereas the RBI received only 7,260.000 pieces.
The government is yet to respond to this report, which makes explosive claims that could have significant economic consequences.
The accounts between the RBI and the Printing press need to be reconciled and there cannot be be any ambiguity in the information made public . Governance is all that matters and there cannot be any misinformation in such sensitive areas . Figures should reconcile .