The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revealed that approximately 76% of the ₹2,000 notes in circulation have been returned to banks, primarily through deposits. This announcement was made after the RBI declared the withdrawal of ₹2,000 notes on May 19, 2023. The public has been given time until September 30 to either deposit these currency notes into their bank accounts or exchange them.
The RBI stated in a release, “According to the data received from the banks, the total value of ₹2000 banknotes received back from circulation after the announcement on May 19 is ₹2.72 Lakh Crore up to June 30, 2023. Consequently, ₹2000 banknotes in circulation as of the close of business on June 30 stood at ₹0.84 Lakh Crore. Thus, 76% of the ₹2000 banknotes in circulation as on May 19, 2023, have since been returned.”
According to information gathered from major banks, of the entire amount of bank notes with a face value of 2,000 that were returned from circulation, approximately 87% were in the form of deposits, and the remaining 13% had been exchanged for bank notes with a face value of a different denomination.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that contested the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to withdraw 2,000 rupee banknotes was dismissed by the Delhi High Court on July 3. Rajneesh Bhaskar Gupta, the petitioner, stated that the Union Government should be held accountable for such actions and that the central bank lacked the jurisdiction to withdraw the 2,000-rupee currency notes.
Gupta asserted in the PIL that the RBI’s “Clean Note Policy” was the only justification it gave for this “significant arbitrary decision.” The central bank took this judgement, according to the petition, “without adequately considering the potential issues faced by the general public.”