Mumbai, Dec 1: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) declared on Friday that almost 97.26 per cent of the Rs 2,000 banknotes have been reintegrated into the banking system, leaving only approximately Rs 9,760 crore worth of the notes still in circulation among the public.
The announcement of the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 denomination banknotes from circulation was made by the RBI on May 19. According to a statement by the RBI, “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 9,760 crore as at the close of business on November 30, 2023.”
Therefore, 97.26 per cent of the high-value currency that was in circulation as of May 19, 2023, has been successfully reintegrated into the banking system, the statement added. The RBI emphasized that the Rs 2,000 banknotes continue to be legal tender, and people can still deposit and/or exchange them at the 19 RBI offices across the country.
People also have the option to send Rs 2,000 banknotes through India Post from any post office to any of the RBI Issue Offices for credit to their bank accounts in India. Initially, the deadline for either exchanging or depositing the notes was set for September 30, and it was later extended to October 7. Subsequently, both deposit and exchange services at bank branches were discontinued on October 7.
Since October 8, individuals have been given the choice of either exchanging the currency or having the equivalent sum credited to their bank accounts at the 19 RBI offices. However, long queues have been observed during working hours at the RBI offices for the exchange/deposit of Rs 2,000 notes.
The 19 RBI offices facilitating the deposit/exchange of the banknotes are located in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Belapur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna, and Thiruvananthapuram. The Rs 2,000 banknotes were introduced in November 2016 following the demonetisation of the then prevailing Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes.
