On 1st November (Wednesday), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that more than 97 per cent of the Rs 2,000 banknotes that had been in circulation have returned to the banking system. The Banker’s Bank noted that only Rs 10,000 crore worth of banknotes in the Rs 2000 denomination are still with the public.
In a circular, the RBI stated, “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 0.10 lakh crore as at the close of business on October 31, 2023.”
As of May 19, the circulation of Rs 2,000 denomination notes amounted to Rs 3.56 lakh crores, which has since decreased to Rs 10,000 crore as of October 31.
The RBI circular added, “Thus, more than 97 per cent of the Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation as of May 19, 2023, have since been returned.”
However, the central bank noted that the public can deposit and/or exchange the Rs 2,000 banknotes at the 19 RBI offices across the country.
These 19 RBI offices depositing/exchanging the bank notes are in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Belapur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram.
The central bank said, “Members of the public are requested to avail the facility of sending the Rs 2,000 bank notes through post offices of India Post. This will obviate the need for travel to RBI offices for deposit/exchange of the Rs 2,000 bank notes.”
Previously, on 19th May, the RBI had announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 denomination banknotes from circulation stating that it was in pursuance of its ‘Clean Note Policy’. In its notification, RBI explained that about 89 per cent of the Rs 2000 denomination banknotes were issued prior to March 2017 and are at the end of their estimated life span of 4 to 5 years.
Initially, the general public and entities that were in possession of these notes were asked to either exchange or deposit them in bank accounts by 30th September. The deadline was subsequently extended to 7th October. However, both the deposit and exchange services at bank branches were halted on the same day, i.e., 7th October.
From 8th October onwards, the RBI has extended the public choice to either exchange the currency or deposit it in their bank accounts at 19 offices of the RBI.
Notably, the Rs 2,000 denomination banknotes were introduced in November 2016 following the announcement of demonetisation of the then prevailing Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes.
