No Proposal To Stop ₹500 Notes, Atms To Dispense More Lower Denominations: Mos Finance Pankaj Chaudhary

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The government has no plans to discontinue the supply of ₹500 denomination banknotes and ATMs will continue to disburse ₹500 alongside ₹100 or ₹200 notes, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed Parliament on Tuesday.

Additionally, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a circular titled 'Dispensation of ₹100 and ₹200 denomination banknotes through ATMs' issued on April 28, 2025, directed banks and ATM operators to ensure their machines are regularly disbursing ₹100 and ₹200 notes.

ATMs to dispense more lower-denomination notes

In a written response to the Rajya Sabha, the minister said that the RBI has directed the disbursal of more lower denomination notes to enhance public access to frequently used denominations of banknotes .

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He also mentioned the timeline set by the RBI for this initiative:

• By September 30, 2025, 75 per cent of all ATMs would dispense either ₹100 or ₹200 denomination banknotes from at least one cassette.
• By March 31, 2026, this number will increase by 90 per cent as all ATMs will continue to dispense either ₹100 or ₹200 denomination banknotes from at least one cassette.

MoS responds to investment fraud

Replying to another question, Chaudhary said the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has been actively pursuing around 76 cases during the period from April 2020 to March 2025.

During the last financial year, Sebi received ₹949.43 crore from disgorgement, which refers to the act of legally binding a person or entity to surrender any illegal gains obtained through unethical practices in the securities market.

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"Fraud and cheating are punishable offences as per Indian laws. Several central government, enforcement, and regulatory agencies have been taking action to prevent, detect, and act against investment related frauds," he said.

Other government agencies are also involved in combating financial crimes, including:

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has identified nine cases of multi-level marketing (MLM) scams in the last five years.
• The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has investigated around 220 cases of money-laundering , related to investment frauds under PMLA between January 2020 and July 2025.

Crypto assets are currently not regulated in India, he said, adding that the RBI-SACHET portal receives multiple complaints about unauthorized deposit taking activities from unregistered entities.

He also mentioned some figures around the number of complaints received so far. From April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2025, the portal received around 3,454 complaints related to the "non-repayment of money collected from various kinds of investment schemes.”

Another 1,531 complaints were received related to collection of money through MLM, direct selling, and Ponzi schemes , he said.

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