Srinagar, Sept. 11 -- When India announced demonetisation in November 2016, the old Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes ceased to be legal tender almost overnight. The decision created an immediate and unprecedented demand for replacement currency. The Reserve Bank of India subsequently introduced a new series of banknotes, including the new Rs.500 note and the Rs.2,000 denomination. The Rs.2,000 note served a practical purpose at the time: it allowed a large amount of currency value to be put back into circulation quickly, at a time when the economy was struggling with a shortage of cash. But the denomination that arrived so prominently in 2016 would gradually disappear from everyday India.

From prominence to withdrawal

The decline of the Rs.2,0...