RBI Has Withdrawn Nearly 97.26% Of The Rs 2,000 Banknotes In Circulation

The Reserve Bank of India has so far withdrawn 97.26% of the Rs 2,000 currency notes in circulation after announcing its withdrawal in May.

The value of the highest-denomination currency note in circulation as of Nov. 30 stands at Rs 9,760 crore, according to a press release by the RBI on Friday. That compares with Rs 3.56 lakh crore, the total value of these notes as of May 19, when the central bank announced its decision to pull back the banknotes from circulation.

The RBI emphasised that the Rs 2,000 banknotes continue to be legal tender.

BQ Prime reported on Thursday that several people have been beelining outside the RBI headquarters to exchange the said banknotes for nearly two months. Moreover, there is a group of middlemen spread out in the area who are facilitating the exchange of currency notes after charging 20–50% commission on every Rs 2,000 note.

Initially, the RBI had allowed the exchange or deposit of banknotes at bank branches until Sept. 30. The deadline was later extended by a week to Oct. 7. But a depositor could exchange Rs 2,000 banknotes for only up to Rs 20,000 at one time.

The facility for exchange of the Rs 2,000 banknotes was also available at the RBI's 19 issue offices as of May 19.

Following the date, depositors can exchange the currency notes at the RBI's issue offices as well as deposit them into their banknotes, the central bank said. Besides, people "from within the country" can send these banknotes through India Post.

"Members of the public from within the country can send ₹2000 banknotes through India Post from any post office in the country to any of the RBI Issue Offices for credit to their bank accounts in India," the RBI said in the release.

The central bank has issue offices in the cities of Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Belapur, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jammu, Jaipur, Kolkata, Kanpur, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna, and Thiruvananthapuram.