Nearly 97.26 percent of the Rs 2,000 bank notes, which were withdrawn from circulation on May 19, 2023, have been returned to the banking system, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The remaining Rs 9,760 crore worth of notes are still in the possession of the public. The total value of Rs 2,000 bank notes in circulation had amounted to Rs 3.56 lakh crore at the time of the withdrawal announcement, but has since declined to Rs 9,760 crore as of November 30, 2023. The RBI emphasized that the Rs 2,000 bank notes continue to be legal tender.
To facilitate the return of these notes, people can deposit or exchange them at any of the 19 RBI offices across the country. Additionally, individuals can send the Rs 2,000 bank notes through India Post to any RBI Issue Office for credit to their bank accounts.
Initially, the deadline for exchanging or depositing the notes in bank accounts was set for September 30, but it was later extended to October 7. However, both deposit and exchange services at bank branches were discontinued on October 7. As a result, queues have been observed during working hours at the RBI offices where people can still exchange or deposit the Rs 2,000 notes.
The 19 RBI offices accepting deposits or exchanges of the bank notes are located in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Belapur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna, and Thiruvananthapuram.
The introduction of the Rs 2,000 bank notes took place in November 2016 after the demonetization of the then prevailing Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 bank notes.
