RBI withdraws Rs 2,000 notes, will continue as Legal Tender

The Reserve Bank of India has issued a notice withdrawing Rs 2,000 notes circulation. RBI notice states that the Rs 2,000 denomination banknotes have been withdrawn from circulation. The notes will continue to be legal tender. 

The notice states that the members of the public may deposit Rs 2000 banknotes into their bank accounts and or exchange them for banknotes of other denominations at any bank branch. The last date to deposit or exchange the Rs 2000 banknotes is September 30, 2023.  At a time, people will be able to deposit up to Rs 20,000 at the 19 Regional Offices of RBI. 

As per RBI, the Rs 2000 notes were introduced in November 2016 under Section 24(1) of RBI Act, 1934, with the aim of meeting the currency requirement of the economy after the legal tender status of all Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes were withdrawn from circulation at that time.

Read: Why Rs 2,000 notes are being withdrawn? What RBI said about exchange, deposit of notes

The RBI stopped the printing of Rs 2,000 banknotes in 2018-2019 and around 89 per cent of the Rs 2,000 denomination notes issued before March 2017 are said to be at the end of their estimated lifespan of 4-5 years.

The total value of these banknotes in circulation has declined from Rs 6.73 lakh crore at its peak of March 31, 2018 (37.3% of Notes in Circulation) to Rs 3.62 lakh crore constituting only 10.8% of Notes in Circulation on March 31, 2023.