On Friday, the Reserve Bank of India has decided to withdraw Rs 2,000 denomination banknotes from circulation and asked all to exchange them by September 30, 2023. However, the Rs 2,000 notes would still be accepted as legal tender, it said.
The Central Bank released an official statement on Friday evening that read: “In pursuance of the “Clean Note Policy” of the Reserve Bank of India, it has been decided to withdraw the Rs 2000 denomination banknotes from circulation. The banknotes in Rs 2000 denomination will continue to be legal tender. To complete the exercise in a time-bound manner and to provide adequate time to the members of public, all banks shall provide deposit and/or exchange facility for Rs 2000 banknotes until September 30, 2023.”
It also mentioned that 89% of the Rs 2000 denomination banknotes were issued prior to March 2017 and are at the end of their estimated life-span of 4-5 years. The total value of these banknotes in circulation has declined from Rs 6.73 lakh crore at its peak as on March 31, 2018 (37.3% of Notes in Circulation) to Rs 3.62 lakh crore constituting only 10.8% of Notes in Circulation on March 31, 2023. Further, the stock of banknotes in other denominations continues to be adequate to meet the currency requirement of the public.
“In order to ensure operational convenience and to avoid disruption of regular activities of bank branches, exchange of Rs 2000 banknotes into banknotes of other denominations can be made upto a limit of Rs 20,000/- at a time at any bank starting from May 23, 2023,” it stated.
Furthermore, the facility for exchange of Rs 2,000 bank notes up to the limit of Rs 20,000 at a time will be provided at the 19 Regional Offices of the RBI having issue departments from May 23.
