RBI makes a big announcement regarding Rs.2000 currency notes
On Friday the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it will withdraw the Rs.2000 denomination banknote from circulation but it will continue as legal tender.
The bank said that all banks shall provide dea posit and/or exchange facility for 2000 banknotes until September 30, 2023.
However, the Rs.2,000 denomination bank notes will continue to be legal tender.
In a statement, the RBI said: “The Rs.2000 denomination banknote was introduced in November 2016 primarily to meet the currency requirements of the economy in an expeditious manner after the withdrawal of the legal tender status of all 500 and 1,000 banknotes in circulation at that time.
“The objective of introducing Rs.2000 banknotes was met once banknotes in other denominations became available in adequate quantities. Therefore, the printing of 2,000 banknotes was stopped in 2018-19,” the RBI said.
The RBI said that about 89 percent of the Rs.2,000 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 percent of notes in circulation) to Rs.3.62 lakh crore constituting only 10.8 percent of Notes in Circulation on March 31, 2023,” it said.
The RBI also pointed out that this denomination is not commonly used for transactions and further, the stock of banknotes in other denominations continues to be adequate to meet the currency requirement of the 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 Rs.2000 denomination banknotes from circulation,” the RBI said, adding: “The banknotes in Rs.2000 denomination will continue to be legal tender.”
RBI said banks may exchange Rs.2000 banknotes up to a limit of Rs.20,000 (10 notes per account holder) at a time from an account holder so that the inconvenience to the public is minimized. They can also approach a Business Correspondent (BC), an extended arm of a bank branch that provides financial and banking services in unbanked and underbanked areas. The limit, in this case, is Rs.4,000 per day.
The facility for the exchange of Rs.2000 banknotes shall be provided to all members of the public by all banks through their branches. It is also not necessary for a person to be a customer of the bank to exchange soon-to-be-discontinued currency. A non-account holder can exchange Rs.2000 banknotes up to a limit of Rs.20,000 at a time at any bank branch.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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