RBI Suspends Rs 2,000 Note Exchange & Deposit Services On 1 April

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that it will not be facilitating the exchange or deposit of Rs 2000 notes on 1 April across its 19 offices due to the annual closing of accounts. This service will resume on 2 April, as stated in a release by the central bank.

Since 19 May 2023, Rs 2000 banknotes have been exchanged at the 19 RBI issue offices. These offices are located in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Belapur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram.

The RBI has been accepting Rs 2000 notes from individuals and entities for deposit into their bank accounts since October of the previous year. As of 1 March 2024, 97.62 per cent of the Rs 2,000 currency notes in circulation as of 19 May 2023, have been returned to the banking system.

The total value of such banknotes in circulation decreased to Rs 8,470 crore by the end of business on 29 February 2024, from Rs 3.56 lakh crore at the close of business on 19 May 2023, when the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 banknotes was announced, according to a statement from the RBI.

The central bank's decision to withdraw high-value denomination banknotes from circulation is part of its clean note policy.