DNA Special: RBI withdraws circulation of Rs 2000 notes, how will it affect the people?

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated: May 20, 2023, 06:30 AM IST

As on March 31, 2018, Rs 2,000 notes worth Rs 6,73,000 crore were available in the market, accounting for 37.3 percent of the total currency circulation.

Today we will be telling you about one of the biggest news of this week as today RBI decided to withdraw Rs 2000 notes from circulation. Although these notes will not be invalid or invalid, those who have Rs 2000 notes, can exchange these notes till September 30, 2023. 

Rs 2000 notes were introduced in the market after demonetisation on November 8, 2016. After an announcement by PM Modi, Rs 500 and Rs1,000 notes were taken out of circulation.

According to the RBI, the Rs 2000 note was to be phased out after a sufficient number of Rs 500, Rs 100, and Rs 200 notes came into circulation. According to RBI, the share of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation is continuously decreasing.

As on March 31, 2018, Rs 2,000 notes worth Rs 6,73,000 crore were available in the market, accounting for 37.3 percent of the total currency circulation.

While on March 31, 2023, this price has come down to 3,62,000. According to RBI, the notes of 1,000 and 500 rupees which were invalid in the year 2016, their total share in currency circulation was about 86 percent.

Whereas now the notes of Rs 2,000 which are present in circulation are only 10.8 percent. That is, people will not have much problem due to these notes being out, because according to RBI, their use has already reduced a lot and they were gradually going out of circulation.

RBI has announced in its order that these Rs 2,000 notes are being taken out of circulation under the Clean Note Policy. People will also be able to exchange their Rs 2,000 notes at RBI's 19 regional centers across the country and any bank across India. 

However, a person can exchange only Rs 20,000 worth of notes at a time. Black money is also being said to be a major reason behind the demonetisation of Rs 2,000 notes. 

People can't forget the hue and cry that was created during demonetisation. Actually, 500 and 1000 rupee notes were not legal tender. Due to which the people who had as much cash, the problem was as big for them. 

The biggest problem of the people was how would they get the new notes. After demonetisation, new notes of 500 and 2000 rupees came in the market. 500 and 2000 rupee notes were available to the general public from banks and ATMs up to the prescribed limit.

 At the time of demonetisation, the number of new currency notes was so less that the cash requirements of the people could not be met. This caused a lot of trouble. As far as the 2000 rupee note is concerned, the work of printing this note was done by RBI in the year 2016. 

RBI believed that after demonetisation, Rs 2000 note would be the most successful for people's cash needs. After the year 1978, this 2000 rupee note was the biggest currency of the country. Before the year 1978, the largest currency note in the country was Rs 10,000, which was printed in the year 1938. At the time of demonetisation, RBI was assuming that those who would deposit money, by giving them Rs 2000 notes in lieu of them, needs would be met immediately.

That's why RBI had printed more than 370 crore notes of 2000 rupees. In the year 2016, RBI printed 354 crore 29 lakh notes. Its cost was about 7,08,000 crore rupees.

In the year 2017, 11 crore 15 lakh notes were printed, their value was about 22 thousand 300 crore rupees. Similarly, in the year 2018, 4 crores 67 lakh notes of Rs 2000 were printed. Their total cost was Rs 9 thousand 340 crore.

In total, RBI had printed 2000 notes worth 7 lakh 39 thousand rupees. That is, if seen, out of the 2000 rupee notes that were printed, 89 percent of the notes were issued before March 2017.