Dec. 9 – India will soon drop Rs1 and Rs2 notes from circulation to be replaced with coins citing high printing costs and short lifespan of the latter.

“The Reserve Bank has informed that in view of the short life span of the lower denominations notes of Re1, Rs2, and Rs5 and the high cost involved in printing and processing of soiled notes of these denominations, the government has decided to discontinue the printing of lower denominations notes,” Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying.

Previously, Rs5 notes were also slated to be replaced with coins but government production of mints was not enough thus the denomination in notes was introduced again to supplement the coins.