'Govt won't print Re. 1 notes'

New Delhi, Dec 8 : The government has decided to stop printing lower denomination notes, said Minister of State for Finance, Namo Narain Meena, in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

'The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has informed that in view of the short life span of the lower denomination notes of Re. 1, Rs. 2 and Rs. 5 and the high cost involved in printing and processing of soiled notes of these denomination, the Government has decided to discontinue the printing of lower denomination notes,' said Meena.

'The notes of these denominations have been coinised.'

However, due to inadequate production capacity of government mints, it was decided to re- introduce Rs. 5 bank note to supplement the Rs. 5 coins.

'There is no shortage of Rs. 10, Rs. 20 bank notes and Rs. 50 in the country,' Meena said.