The Reserve Bank of India on Sunday announced that it will shortly issue new Rs 50 and Rs 20 rupee notes, even as the country continues to face a cash crunch following demonetisation. However, all the existing notes of Rs 50 and Rs 20 will continue to remain legal tenders, the central bank said.

“The Reserve Bank of India will shortly issue Rs 50 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005, without inset letter in both the number panels, bearing signature of Dr. Urjit R Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, and the year of printing '2016' printed on the reverse of the banknote,” the RBI said in a statement on Sunday.

In the case of the Rs 20, all the new notes will have “inset letter ‘L’ in both the number panels, bearing signature of Dr. Urjit R Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, and the year of printing '2016' printed on the reverse of the banknote,” read another statement by the RBI.

Both the Rs 20 and Rs 50 notes will have the same design and security features of the existing notes with the ascending font of numerals in both the number panels and without intaglio print issued earlier in Mahatma Gandhi Series- 2005.

This announcement comes after almost a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes on November 8. 

The new Rs 2000 and Rs 500 notes printed by the RBI have already come under criticism for printing deficiencies.