The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reminded individuals to complete the exchange process of their ₹2,000 notes by September 30, following its announcement on May 19, 2023, to discontinue these notes. The central bank has set up exchange facilities at its 19 regional offices and local bank branches, with an exchange limit of ₹20,000 per individual.
Despite the discontinuation, the RBI has stated that ₹2,000 currency notes will remain legal tender even after the deadline. However, it is advisable for individuals to deposit or exchange these high-denomination banknotes by the end of September, as some businesses may refuse to accept them. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), for example, has already stopped accepting ₹2,000 currency notes as cash.
The deposit or exchange process involves visiting a bank branch with the ₹2,000 notes and filling in a requisition slip with the necessary details. Individuals must adhere to Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and other legal procedures when depositing these notes into a bank account. Even those without a bank account can avail of the exchange facility at any bank branch.
Individuals are also advised to plan their exchange or deposit of ₹2,000 notes in light of bank holidays this week. Banks in Guwahati and Ranchi were closed on September 25 for Janmotsav of Srimanta Sankardeva/Karma Puja. Banks in Jammu, Kochi, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram, and several other cities will be closed on September 27 and 28 for Milad-i-Sherif (Birthday of Prophet Muhammad).
As of August 31, 2023, the RBI reported that 93% of ₹2,000 currency notes in circulation on May 19 have been returned to banks. The total value of ₹2,000 banknotes returned from circulation is ₹3.32 lakh crore.
The ₹2,000 denomination banknotes were introduced on November 10, 2016, to meet the currency requirement of the economy post-withdrawal of the legal tender status of all ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes in circulation at that time. However, in line with RBI's “Clean Note Policy”, it was decided to withdraw the ₹2,000 denomination banknotes from circulation.
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