Law which allowed circulation of INR 1000 notes in 1999 scrapped

New Delhi, Aug. 4 (PTI): A law which allowed the Reserve Bank of India to circulate INR 1000 denomination notes to tide over the shortage of currency in the late 1990s has been scrapped. The High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Amendment Act, 1998 is one of 58 “redundant” laws repealed last week. Parliament passed a bill to repeal 58 laws from the statute books on Friday. The then finance minister, Yashwant Sinha, had moved bill in December 1998 to allow RBI circulate INR 1000 denomination notes. “To eliminate the shortage of currency notes and to ease the pressure on other denominations, it is proposed to amend section 2 of the High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Act, 1978. This will facilitate the Reserve Bank of India to issue notes of INR 1,000 denomination immediately,” read the amended Act which came into force in 1999. On 8 November 2016, the government announced demonetisation of all INR 500 and INR 1,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi series. It also announced the issuance of new INR 500 and INR 2,000 notes. The INR 1000 denomination notes are no longer in circulation. The 58 laws repealed last week would now be removed from the statute books.