The Rs.2,000 notes: Over 97% returned; the RBI still awaits Rs.9,330 crores
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Nearly 97.38 percent of the high-value Rs.2,000 denomination banknotes have returned to the banking system but Rs.9,330 crore worth of these notes are still with the public, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said.
The Rs 2,000 banknotes were introduced in November 2016 following the demonetization of the then-prevailing high-value Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes.
On May 19, 2023, the central bank announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 denomination bank notes from circulation.
“The total value of Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation, which amounted to Rs 3.56 lakh crore as at the close of business on May 19, 2023, when the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 banknotes was announced, has declined to Rs 9,330 crore as at the close of business on December 29, 2023,” the RBI said in a statement.
Thus, 97.38 percent of the high-value currency in circulation as of May 19, 2023, has since been returned to the banking system, it added.
“The Rs 2,000 banknotes continue to be legal tender,” the RBI added.
People can deposit and/or exchange Rs 2,000 banknotes at the 19 RBI offices across the country. They can also send these banknotes through India Post from any post office to any of the RBI Issue Offices for credit to their bank accounts in India, the media reported.
The public and the entities holding such notes were initially asked last year to either exchange or deposit them in bank accounts by September 30, 2023. The deadline was later extended to October 7. Starting October 8, individuals were been provided with the choice of either exchanging the currency or having the equivalent sum credited to their bank accounts at the 19 offices of the RBI.
Queues were seen during working hours at the RBI offices for exchange/deposit of Rs 2,000 notes.
The 19 RBI offices depositing/exchanging the bank notes are in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Belapur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram.
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