The government banned Rs 500 and 1,000 notes on Nov 8, triggering a cash shortage.
The design of the new Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes were approved by the government on June 7, 2016 - a full five months before it announced that existing high denomination currency bills would no longer be valid. This was revealed by the Reserve Bank of India in response to a Right To Information request filed by NDTV.
The move to curb corruption and tax evasion
wiped out 86 per cent of the currency in circulation and triggered an unprecedented nationwide cash shortage. While the intent of the demonetisation drive received praise initially, the execution was widely criticised as it left crores of Indians without usable cash. Opposition parties also questioned the government, alleging that BJP leaders were photographed on social media flaunting bundles of new notes and units of the party stashed huge sums in bank accounts days before the cash ban, indicating prior knowledge.
The new Rs 500 and 2000 notes were issued on November 10
On its part, the Reserve Bank of India had approved the designs of the new notes on May 19, the central bank said. The RBI however refused to share other details, including the full proposal or answering the question "whether any estimate or study was undertaken by the RBI to study how long it would take to print the new 500 and 2000 rupee note".
As an explanation, the RBI said that disclosure of the information would "prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence".
In responses to other RTI queries filed by journalists and activists, it has emerged that the RBI board made the recommendation to demonetise 500 and 1,000 rupee notes on the November 8, the same evening Prime Minister Modi made the announcement in a televised speech.