NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), under former governor Raghuram Rajan , had suggested the introduction of Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 notes in view of the value of the Rs 1,000 note being eroded by inflation. Information provided by the RBI to the Public Accounts Committee revealed that the central bank had made the recommendation in October 2014, some months after the Modi government took charge. Some 18 months later, the government informed the RBI, in May 2016, about its “in principle” decision to introduce a new series of Rs 2,000 notes, and the printing presses were finally given instructions in June last year.This throws further light on the sequence of events and discussions between the RBI and the government ahead of the decision to demonetise the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes that was announced on November 8 last year.Finance minister Arun Jaitley has said that the government did not accept the recommendation for Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 notes as it wanted replacement currency available immediately, and so went for Rs 2,000 notes. As it turned out, in the initial days following demonetisation, the acceptance of Rs 2,000 notes was low due to a lack of “change”, and higher denomination notes would have made the task even more problematic.