RBI will let you exchange Rs 2000 notes by Oct-end if you can't make the Sep 30 deadline, but it's not as easy
Earlier the deadline to exchange Rs 2000 note was September 30. (Photo Credits: Getty Images)
The deadline for exchanging your Rs 2,000 note was originally September 30, but now the RBI is considering extending it to the end of October.
A top official said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) might give people some more time to return or change their Rs 2,000 currency notes.
"It looks like the RBI will extend the date for deposit and exchange of Rs 2,000 notes by at least for a month because it has to factor in the non-resident Indians as well as others living overseas," an RBI official said to moneycontrol.
Initially, the RBI set September 30 as the deadline to withdraw all Rs 2,000 notes from circulation.
Why
On May 19, the RBI announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes as part of its clean-note policy, advising banks to stop issuing them immediately.
₹2000 Denomination Banknotes – Withdrawal from Circulation; Will continue as Legal Tenderhttps://t.co/2jjqSeDkSk
— ReserveBankOfIndia (@RBI) May 19, 2023
- In the 2016 "Demonetisation," the government decided to change the notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 people were using.
- They asked everyone to deposit back their old 500 and 1000 rupee notes.
- In return, they issued new Rs 2000 rupee, Rs 500 and Rs 200 notes.
- This made many people stand in long queues at the banks to exchange their old notes for the new ones.
- In 2018-19, they decided to stop printing Rs 2000 notes as they already had plenty of notes of smaller denominations.
Fast forward to 2023, seven years later, and now the Rs 2000 note, the one with the highest value, is going away.
- The RBI (that's like the money boss of India) said they are taking the Rs 2000 notes out of use.
- By August 31, 2023, people had returned Rs 3.32 trillion worth of Rs 2000 notes.
- According to the RBI, on September 1, almost all the 2000 rupee notes, like 93% of them, had already gone back to the banks.
- That's a lot of money, almost equivalent to Rs 3.32 lakh crore.
RBI thinks this is a big problem for the country's money system, so they decided to stop using the Rs 2000 notes.
This time, the RBI gave people a longer window to exchange their Rs 2000 notes and allowed them to do this until the end of September 2023, which is now further extended to October.
It shows that people don't use these notes much anymore in their everyday transactions.
Deposits and exchanges of Rs 2,000 notes
- Reportedly, banks haven't seen a big rush of people depositing or exchanging Rs 2,000 notes and the amount being deposited or exchanged each day is quite low.
- RBI started something called ICRR (Incremental Cash Reserve Ratio) to reduce extra money in the banks when Rs 2,000 notes were withdrawn.
#WATCH | #Rs2000CurrencyNote | RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das says, "Let me clarify and re-emphasise that it is a part of the currency management operations of the Reserve Bank...For a long time, the Reserve Bank has been following a clean note policy. From time to time, RBI… pic.twitter.com/Rkae1jG0rU
— ANI (@ANI) May 22, 2023
With more time available now, as the dates might be extended, it's a good idea to exchange your Rs 2,000 note if you haven't done so already.