FY21: Currency in circulation up 13% in first 9 months

The Currency in Circulation (CiC) grew by round 13 per cent within the first 9 months of the present fiscal as folks most well-liked holding on to money as a precautionary measure amid the uncertainty prompted as a result of Covid-19 pandemic.
CiC grew by Rs 3,23,003 crore, or 13.2 per cent, to Rs 27,70,315 crore as on January 1, 2021 from Rs 24,47,312 crore as on March 31, 2020, in keeping with current knowledge launched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
In the April-December interval of FY2020, it had grown by practically 6 per cent.
According to Care Ratings Chief Economist Madan Sabnavis, the expansion in foreign money in circulation to date within the present fiscal has been excessive as folks have been accumulating more money to satisfy any exigency in the course of the lockdown.
“Whenever there is a crisis-like situation, there is a tendency for households to latch on to cash. That is the reason there has been an increase in demand for cash. What you see is nothing else but a precautionary motive overwhelming everything,” Sabnavis mentioned.
The RBI in its annual report for 2019-20, launched in August 2020, had additionally talked about that demand for foreign money began to extend within the wake of heightened uncertainty attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The central financial institution additionally took a sequence of measures as a way to meet the improved demand.
During the calendar yr 2020, CiC grew 22.1 per cent, or Rs 5,01,405 crore, to Rs 27,70,315 crore as on January 1, 2021.
CiC consists of banknotes and cash. At current, RBI points notes in denominations of Rs 2, Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 200, Rs 500 and Rs 2,000. —With PTI