Banknotes of the denomination of ₹2,000 will be in circulation soon.

The Reserve Bank of India has very nearly completed preparations for introducing this new high-value currency, sources said.

The notes have already been printed, and their despatch from the currency printing press in Mysuru has commenced.

The move assumes significance in the wake of a demand from some quarters that notes of ₹1,000 and ₹500 denominations be withdrawn to prevent hoarding of black money.

The highest denomination note printed by the RBI was the ₹10,000 note in 1938 and in 1954. They were demonetised in 1946 and 1978, respectively.

There has been no official word on the introduction of new notes either from the RBI or the government. The government, on the advice of the RBI , decides on various denominations of banknotes to be issued.

As of March 2016, the value of banknotes in circulation was ₹16,41,500 lakh crore, an increase of 14.9 per cent over the previous year.

In value terms, ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes together accounted for 86.4 per cent of the total value of notes in circulation. .

“During 2015-16, the demand for banknotes and coins remained high notwithstanding the growing shift towards non-cash modes of transactions,” the RBI said in its annual report for 2015-16.

According to reports, it costs a little over ₹3 to produce a ₹1,000 note, the lowest in terms printing costs as a proportion of value. Printing notes of smaller denominations is relatively more costly.