98% of Rs 2,000 denomination notes returned: RBI

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday said 97.87 per cent of the Rs 2,000 denomination banknotes have returned to the banking system, and only Rs 7,581 crore worth of the withdrawn notes are still with the public.

On May 19, 2023, the RBI announced the withdrawal of Rs 2000 denomination banknotes from circulation. The total value of Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation, which was Rs 3.56 lakh crore at the close of business on May 19, 2023, has declined to Rs 7,581 crore at the close of business on June 28, 2024.

"Thus, 97.87 per cent of the Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation as of May 19, 2023, has since been returned," the central bank said in a statement.

The facility for deposit and/or exchange of the Rs 2,000 banknotes was available at all bank branches in the country till October 7, 2023. The facility for the exchange of the Rs 2000 banknotes has been available at the 19 issue offices of the Reserve Bank since May 19, 2023.

From October 9, 2023, RBI issue offices are also accepting Rs 2,000 banknotes from individuals and entities for deposit into their bank accounts. Further, members of the public are sending Rs 2,000 banknotes through India Post from any post office within the country to any of the RBI issue offices for credit to their bank accounts.

The 19 RBI offices depositing/exchanging the banknotes are in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Belapur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram.

The Rs 2,000 banknotes were introduced in November 2016, following the demonetisation of the then-prevailing Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 banknotes.