Before delving into the reasons for the delay, let’s first see just how crucial the Rs 500 note is. Before Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the 8 November demonetisation announcement, there were 1,660 crore notes of Rs 500 denomination. The total value of these notes was Rs 8.3 lakh crore, which was more than half the total value (Rs 16.28 lakh crore) of the currency in circulation. Therefore, it was the single-most important denomination in circulation.

Shockingly, the printing of the new ₹500 notes began hardly a week before Modi’s announcement. And in the last three weeks, the two presses have only been able to deliver 1 crore notes. To return to normalcy, an additional 1,659 crore notes need to be printed. In other words, RBI has replaced just 0.06 percent of Rs 500 notes which were in circulation before. There is no indication how long will it take to print these many notes.