No plans to introduce new denomination notes: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India currently has no plans of introducing new denomination currencies, a senior RBI official said on Sunday.

"Presently RBI has no idea to introduce currencies of new denominations. The central banking institution wants to encourage cashless transactions, which are helpful to the people", RBI Deputy Governor N.S. Vishwanathan said while speaking at a lecture here on "Credit culture and the financial system".

In this connection, Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal had told Parliament on Friday that the government is not planning to print Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 currency notes.

Referring to banks` non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans, Vishwanathan said here that these are affecting the income and profit of banks.  "Banks cannot escape from the responsibility of controlling NPAs in their balance sheets," he said. 

Banks are expected to base their lending decisions on a careful and prudent assessment of the financial position and repaying capacity of the borrower, while credit should be given to only the right people, he added. 

The magnitude of the problem can be guaged from the NPA figures of state-run banks, which at the end of the current fiscal`s second quarter that ended in September, rose to Rs 6.3 lakh crore, as compared to Rs 5.5 lakh crore at the end of the first quarter.