RBI asks banks to stop issuing Rs 2,000 notes with immediate effect
AMN / WEB DESK
RBI today announced that it would withdraw Rs 2,000 currency notes from circulation; the notes will continue to be legal tender till September 30.
On Friday, RBI asks banks to provide deposit and/or exchange facility for Rs 2,000 notes until September 30, 2023, the statement said.
RBI asks banks to stop issuing Rs 2,000 notes with immediate effect.
Exchange facility for Rs 2,000 bank notes up to Rs 20,000 at a time would be available from May 23, the RBI statement said.
“The objective of introducing ₹2000 banknotes were met once banknotes in other denominations became available in adequate quantities,” RBI said in a statement.
Therefore, printing of ₹2000 banknotes was stopped in 2018-19.About 89% of the ₹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 ₹6.73 lakh crore at its peak as on March 31, 2018 (37.3% of Notes in Circulation) to ₹3.62 lakh crore constituting only 10.8% of Notes in Circulation on March 31, 2023. It has also been observed that this denomination is not commonly used for transactions.
Further, the stock of banknotes in other denominations continues to be adequate to meet the currency requirement of he public.
In view of the above, and in pursuance of the “Clean Note Policy” of the Reserve Bank of India, it has been decided to withdraw the ₹2000 denomination banknotes from circulation.The banknotes in ₹2000 denomination will continue to be legal tender. It may be noted that RBI had undertaken a similar withdrawal of notes from circulation in 2013-2014.
“Accordingly, members of the public may deposit ₹2000 banknotes into their bank accounts and/or exchange them into banknotes of other denominations at any bank branch. Deposit into bank accounts can be made in the usual manner, that is, without restrictions and subject to extant instructions and other applicable statutory provisions,” RBI said in a statement.
In order to ensure operational convenience and to avoid disruption of regular activities of bank branches, exchange of ₹2000 banknotes into banknotes of other denominations can be made upto a limit of ₹20,000/- at a time at any bank starting from May 23, 2023.