It may take a while before the notes are dispensed from ATMs due to its configuration, which is different from the existing currency of Rs 100 and Rs 2,000.
After months of speculation, the Rs 200 note is now ready for circulation.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday released pictures of the Rs 200 note.
The notes are out for circulation in select bank branches.
However, it may take a while before they are dispensed from the ATMs due to its configuration, which is different from the existing currency of Rs 100 and Rs 2,000. The Rs 200 note will have a dimension of 66 mm × 146 mm.
R Gandhi, former deputy governor of RBI in charge of currency management, told DNA Money, "It is very important to have various denominations of currency in a country and the Rs 200 was a missing link in the lower denomination. The new notes will help in speeding up transactions, especially for the common man. It may, however, take a while before it is available at the ATMs as the dimensions are different. However, banks can recalibrate it in the normal course of business make it first available in the branches and then gradually in the ATMs."
The currency in the ATMs are held in specific decks called the cassettes and depending on the size of the currency these cassettes have to be physically changed to fit in the new currency.
Himanshu Pujara, managing director, Euronet India, said, "Since the length of the Rs 200 currency is different from the existing currency dispensed from the ATMs (100, 500, 2000), the cassette calibration is required to be done. ATM manufacturers need to do a complete testing of the new Rs 200 denomination currency and provide the parameters which need to be configured at the ATM by an engineer. At ATM switch level, we will require to do switch configuration and complete testing of new 200 denomination currency before implementation."
Navroze Dastur, chief operating officer, NCR, the largest ATM operator in India, said, "We have to test-run the currency and see how the new configuration works in the ATM. But it will be a much smaller exercise. ATMs will be fully operational even during recalibration. But we still have not got the physical currency in our hands. But it will certainly improve liquidity and improve the ease of transactions."
RBI, in a release, said in a release that globally countries have opted to use the Renard series where the ratio between one adjacent denomination of currency is 1:2 or 1:2.5, which means that the denomination should be twice or two-and-a-half times of its preceding denomination. Such a ratio allows an exchange of value ordinarily in a maximum of three denominations. In India we have currency denomination of Re 1, Rs 2, Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 100 , Rs 500 and Rs 2,000. The Rs 200 bridged the link between the Rs 100 and Rs 500.
RBI, in a release, said, "The introduction of a new currency denomination and design is done keeping in consideration various factors like ease of transactions for the common man, replacement of soiled banknotes, inflation and the need for combating counterfeiting and will help the common man."
For the visually impaired, the new Rs 200 note will have intaglio or raised printing of the Mahatma Gandhi Portrait, Ashoka Pillar emblem, the raised identification mark H with micro-text Rs 200, four angular bleed lines with two circles in between the lines both on the right and left sides.
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