State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest public sector lender, received Rs 80,886 crore worth of Rs 2,000 notes till September 30, 2023, of which Rs 14,079 crore were exchanged and Rs 66,807 crore were deposited.
SBI could not provide information on which segment (retail or business) deposited the maximum notes, as this information is not centrally tracked.
On May 19, 2023, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes from circulation as part of its clean-note policy. As of September 30, 2023, about 96% of the Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation as of May 19, 2023, have been returned to the RBI.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has expressed confidence that all the remaining Rs 2,000 notes will be exchanged or deposited. The deadline to exchange the withdrawn notes at bank branches ended on October 7, 2023, but the facility is still available at RBI offices.
Middlemen are exploiting the long queues at RBI offices by charging customers as much as Rs 400 per bill to exchange their Rs 2,000 notes. Customers who don’t want to stand in long queues are willing to pay the commission to these middlemen.
