₹ 2,000 Notes To Be Scrapped, Exchange Them: RBI

Article by Suman M Published on: 3:30 pm, 19 May 2023

The Reserve Bank of India said it will withdraw ₹ 2,000 notes from circulation. The central bank asked the people to exchange or deposit them in their bank accounts before September 30.

RBI’s 19 regional offices and other banks will start taking ₹ 2,000 notes for exchange with lower denominations from May 23. They will remain legal tender.

RBI ordered banks to stop issuing ₹ 2,000 notes immediately.

In the official statement released by RBI, it said, ‘₹2,000 denomination banknote was introduced in November 2016 under Section 24(1) of RBI Act, 1934 primarily to meet the immediate currency requirement of the economy after withdrawal of the legal tender status of all ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes in circulation at that time. With fulfillment of the objective of introducing ₹2,000 denominations and availability of banknotes in other denominations in adequate quantity, the printing of ₹2,000 banknotes was stopped in 2018-19. ‘

‘Further, the majority of the ₹2,000 denomination notes were issued prior to March 2017, have completed their estimated lifespan, and are not observed to be commonly used for transactions anymore. Therefore, it has been decided that, in pursuance of the ‘Clean Note Policy’ of the Reserve Bank of India, the ₹2,000 denomination banknotes shall be withdrawn from circulation. The ₹2,000 banknotes will continue to be legal tender.’