97.69% of Rs 2000 currency notes deposited back to Reserve Bank

Deposit of notes: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that close to 97.69 per cent of the Rs 2000 denomination bank notes have been returned to the banking system, with only Rs 8,202 crore worth of the withdrawn notes still with the public.

The RBI announced withdrawing Rs 2,000 denomination bank notes from circulation on May 19 last year.

The cumulative amount of Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation was Rs 3.56 lakh crore at the close of business on May 19, 2023 when it was announced that the largest denomination of Indian currency would be withdrawn. This figure has drastically gone down to Rs 8,202 crore at the close of business on March 29, 2024, according to a statement by the Reserve Bank of India.

"Thus, 97.69 per cent of the Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation as of May 19, 2023, has since been returned," it added.

The decision still does not affect the Rs 2,000 banknotes from continuing to be a legal tender.

Citizens have the facility to deposit or exchange Rs 2000 bank notes across 19 RBI offices in the country, and can also send the bank notes of this denomination through India Post from any post office to any of the RBI Issue Offices for credit to their bank accounts in India.

The deadline for depositing or exchanging these banknotes was earlier September 30, 2023 which was applicable on public and private entities holding such notes. This was extended to October 7, 2023, post which deposit and exchange services at bank branches were discontinued.

Beginning October 8, 2023, people either have a choice of exchanging the currency or having an equivalent sum credited to their bank accounts at the 19 offices of the RBI.

These offices for the deposit and exchange of 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.

Introduced in 2016 during the demonetisation that year, the Rs 2000 bank notes were brought into circulation against the prevailing Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes back then. 

(With PTI Inputs)