New Delhi: The Reserve Bank (RBI) had taken the 2000 Rupee Note out of circulation about one and a half years ago. The central bank also gave people a proper time to return these notes to the bank. So far, about 98 percent of the 2000 Rupee Notes have already come to the RBI. But, people are still hoarding thousands of crores worth of pink notes.

People have notes worth Rs 6,970 crore

RBI has given a big update on the 2000 note. It says that most of the 2000 notes have been returned since they were taken out of circulation. But, people still have notes worth Rs 6,970 crore. This figure is till 31 October 2024. RBI's latest update shows that 98.04 percent of 2000 rupee notes have been returned.

However, the problem now is that the pace of notes coming back to the central bank has slowed down. This could also mean that those who have these notes do not want to return them. In the last one month, only pink notes worth Rs 147 crore have been returned.

The pace of withdrawal of notes is slowing down

According to the data shared by RBI on July 1, 2024, Rs 2000 notes worth Rs 7581 crore were left in the market. On October 1, it was Rs 7,117 crore and now on October 31, it is Rs 6,970 crore. This means that from July till now, notes worth only Rs 611 crore have been returned.

Last year, the 2000 rupee note was taken out of circulation in May 2023. At that time, currency notes worth Rs 3.56 lakh crore were present in the market. By 29 December 2023, this figure came down to Rs 9,330 crore, as people deposited 2000 notes on a war footing. But, after that the pace of withdrawal kept slowing down.

Why was the 2000 note taken out of circulation?

RBI had announced the withdrawal of Rs 2000 note on 19 May 2023 under the Clean Note Policy. The central bank had earlier given a deadline of 30 September 2023 to exchange the 2000 note. However, it was also extended from time to time. 2000 notes were introduced in November 2016. At that time, the government had discontinued the 500 and 1000 rupees notes in circulation.

RBI said that it has announced to stop printing of 2000 rupee banknotes in 2018-19. It said that now there is no need for 2000 rupee notes as there is sufficient availability of notes of other denominations.