₹2,000 banknotes withdrawal: 97.92% returned; notes worth ₹7,409 cr still with public, says RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said 97.92 per cent of the ₹2,000 banknotes in circulation have been returned to the banking system. The total value of ₹2,000 banknotes, which was ₹3.56 lakh crore on May 19, 2023, when the withdrawal was announced, has declined to ₹7,409 crore, the central bank said.

For the uninitiated, the RBI announced the withdrawal of ₹2,000 denomination banknotes on May 19, 2023, and the facility to deposit and exchange these currency notes was available at all bank branches until October 7 last year.

At present, the facility to exchange the ₹2,000 banknotes is available at the 19 issue offices of the RBI.

From October 9, 2023, these RBI issue offices have been accepting ₹2,000 banknotes from individuals and entities for deposit into their bank accounts.

Members of the public are also sending ₹2,000 banknotes through India Post from any post office within the country to any of the RBI issue offices for credit to their bank accounts.

The status of withdrawal of ₹2,000 banknotes is periodically published by the RBI.

The ₹2,000 banknotes continue to be legal tender.

As of June 28, 2024, up to 97.87 per cent of ₹2,000 bank notes had returned, the RBI had said in an announcement.

In another development, the RBI completed its review of potential buyers for a majority stake in IDBI Bank, approving Fairfax Financial Holdings, Emirates NBD and Kotak Mahindra Bank as bidders, three sources aware of the development said, according to a Reuters report.