RBI reports overwhelming return of Rs 2,000 currency notes

An overwhelming 97.76 per cent of the Rs 2,000 denomination banknotes have been returned to the banking system, leaving only Rs 7,961 crore worth of the withdrawn notes still in circulation among the public, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The total value of Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation, which stood at Rs 3.56 lakh crore on May 19, 2023, when the withdrawal was announced, has now significantly declined to Rs 7,961 crore as of April 30, 2024, as per the RBI's statement.

Individuals still holding Rs 2,000 banknotes have the option to deposit or exchange them at 19 RBI offices nationwide. They can also utilize India Post services to send these banknotes to any RBI Issue Office for credit to their bank accounts.

Initially, public and private entities were given until September 30, 2023, to exchange or deposit the notes, a deadline later extended to October 7. Subsequently, deposit and exchange services at bank branches ceased on October 7, and from October 8 onwards, individuals have been provided the choice to either exchange the currency or have the equivalent amount credited to their bank accounts at the designated RBI offices.

The 19 RBI offices offering deposit and exchange services for 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.

Introduced in November 2016 following the demonetisation of the then prevailing Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes, the Rs 2,000 denomination notes have seen a substantial return to the banking system over the years.

(With PTI inputs)