-By ArdorComm News Network
May 20, 2023
The Rs 2,000 banknotes will no longer be in circulation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced on Friday, May 19. The Rs 2,000 banknotes will still be accepted as legal tender.
The people can also exchange Rs 2,000 notes for notes of other denominations at any bank branch or deposit them into their bank accounts.
The RBI said that beginning on May 23, 2023, any bank will allow the exchange of Rs 2,000 banknotes into banknotes of other denominations up to a ceiling of Rs 20,000 at a time in order to maintain operational ease and prevent disruption of routine activities of bank branches.
Additionally, starting on May 23, the 19 Regional Offices (ROs) of the RBI with issuing departments will offer the ability to swap Rs 2,000 bank notes up to the maximum of Rs 20,000 at a time.
The introduction of the Rs 2,000 denomination banknote in November 2016 was primarily done to quickly satisfy the economy’s need for money following the loss of the legal tender status of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes that were in use at the time.
After sufficient supplies of notes in other denominations became available, the goal of launching Rs 2,000 banknotes was achieved. As a result, the printing of Rs 2,000 banknotes was discontinued in 2018–19, according to the RBI.
The expected life time of the Rs 2,000 banknotes is about 4-5 years, and 89 percent of them were printed before March 2017. According to the apex bank, the total value of these banknotes in circulation has decreased from Rs 6.73 lakh crore, which represented 37.3% of notes in circulation at their peak on March 31, 2018, to Rs 3.62 lakh crore, which will make up only 10.8% of notes in circulation on March 31, 2023.