Nearly two years after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) initiated the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 banknotes from circulation, Rs 6,181 crore worth of these notes remain unreturned to the central bank. As of May 31, 2025, the total value of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation has decreased from Rs 3.56 lakh crore at the announcement date on May 19, 2023. The RBI reported that 98.26 percent of the Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation at that time have since been returned.
Despite being withdrawn, Rs 2,000 banknotes continue to hold legal tender status. The RBI noted that facilities for exchanging these notes have been accessible at its 19 issue offices since May 19, 2023. Furthermore, starting from October 9, 2023, these offices also accept Rs 2,000 notes from individuals or entities for deposit into bank accounts. Additionally, the public can send Rs 2,000 banknotes via India Post from any post office in the country to any RBI issue office for credit to their bank accounts.
Introduced in November 2016 under the RBI Act of 1934, the Rs 2,000 denomination banknote was designed to meet the currency needs of the economy following the demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. The RBI had ceased printing these notes in 2018-19 once sufficient quantities of other denominations were made available.
According to the RBI’s annual report, the detection of counterfeit Rs 2,000 notes has significantly decreased during the 2024-25 period, with instances dropping by 86.52 percent to 3,508 notes compared to 26,035 in the previous year.
Original Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/business/rs-6181-crore-worth-rs-2000-notes-yet-to-return-to-rbi-10044745/
Category: Business
Tags:
Publish Date: 2025-06-03 04:37:00
