New Delhi: Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that more than two-thirds of Rs 2,000 notes have returned to the system within a month of the withdrawal order. In a surprise move, but as part of the clean note policy, the Reserve Bank on May 19 ordered the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 banknotes worth about Rs 3.62 lakh crore.
On 8 June, while announcing the second monetary policy review of the financial year, Das had said that Rs 2,000 notes worth about Rs 1.8 lakh crore have come back, which was about 50 per cent of the notes in circulation as of March 31, including Of these, 85 per cent were in deposits and the rest in exchange.
“More than two-thirds of the Rs 3.62 lakh crore (up to March 31, 2023) notes of 2000 notes withdrawn now, or Rs 2.41 lakh crore, have returned to the system by the middle of last week,” said Governor Das. ” PTI language said in an interview at the RBI headquarters last week. He informed that of the total money returned to the system, 85 per cent is in deposits and the rest is in currency exchange.
Though the central bank has set September 30, 2023 as the last day for exchange/deposit, Das said the deadline is not set in stone and people need not rush to claim their money. Das also said that the note withdrawal will not have any impact on monetary stability, but refused to comment on a recent analyst report that claimed the move would boost consumer spending, which has been under stress for some time. is, and which in turn will help. Get the economy moving and grow above the projected 6.5 per cent.
“I don’t think demonetisation will have any negative impact on the economy,” Das said. The central bank and the government estimate GDP to grow at 6.5 per cent in the current fiscal, 8.1 per cent in the first quarter and 8.1 per cent in subsequent quarters. I will reduce it.
After issuing a recall order on May 19 and asking banks to open special counters to collect notes from the public from May 23, the central bank said that the existing Rs 2,000 denomination banknotes will continue to be legal tender. Later, Das said he was not sure whether he would ask the government to revoke the legal tender status of these notes after the September 30 deadline.
2000 bank notes were introduced in November 2016 (under Section 24(1) of the RBI Act, 1934) within a few days of the 8 November demonetisation, in which the government closed all 500 and 1000 banks to meet currency requirements. The legal tender status of the notes was withdrawn. expeditious manner.
About 89 per cent of the 2,000 banknotes were issued before March 2017 and are at the end of their expected life span of four-five years. The total value of these banknotes in circulation has declined from Rs 6.73 lakh crore at its peak (37.3 per cent of the notes in circulation) to Rs 3.62 lakh crore as of March 31, 2018, which is only 10.8 per cent of the notes in circulation. of 31 March 2023.
The central bank’s mints had stopped printing Rs 2,000 notes in 2018-19 itself. The clean note policy seeks to provide good quality currency notes and coins with better security features to the public, while soiled notes are withdrawn from circulation.
The RBI had earlier decided to withdraw from circulation all banknotes issued before 2005, as they had lesser security features as compared to banknotes printed after 2005. However, notes issued before 2005 will continue to be legal tender. These have been withdrawn from circulation in line with standard international practice of not keeping notes of several series in circulation at the same time.