New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India announced on Friday that it has decided to withdraw Rs 2,000 notes from circulation. However, the central bank said in a statement that these notes will pass as legal tender. The RBI further said that the general public can deposit the Rs 2,000 notes in their bank accounts or exchange them for other notes at any bank branch. “Deposits in bank accounts are made in the usual manner, i.e. without restrictions and subject to existing instructions and other applicable legal provisions,” the bank said in a statement.
In order to complete this process on time and give enough time to the public, all banks will be able to provide deposit or exchange facility of Rs 2,000 notes till September 30, 2023, RBI said. People are encouraged to deposit or exchange these notes on or before September 30, 2023, RBI said. The RBI has not specified whether the Rs 2000 note will be valid or not after September 30. But since the public has a deadline of September 30 to return the notes, the question has been raised whether the notes will be valid after that date or not.
The bank also mentioned that deposits can be made in bank accounts without limit. Rs.2,000 notes can be deposited in bank accounts and cash requirements can be drawn against this deposit. Banks have been directed to make arrangements to reduce inconvenience to senior citizens, differently-abled persons, etc., who wish to exchange or deposit Rs 2,000 notes, the RBI said. It also said that non-account holders can exchange Rs 2,000 notes up to Rs 20,000 at any bank branch at a time. The Central Bank has also mentioned that the general public will not have to pay any fee to avail the transfer facility.
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“About 89% of Rs 2000 notes were issued before March 2017 and have an estimated life of 4-5 years. The total value of these notes in circulation has declined from Rs 6.73 lakh crore. As on March 31, 2018 (37.3% of notes in circulation) to a maximum of Rs. .3.62 lakh crore, which is only 10.8% of the notes in circulation as on March 31, 2023. It was also observed that this denomination is not commonly used for transactions. The stock of other denominations of currency notes is sufficient to meet the currency demand of the public,” RBI said in a statement.
