Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said yesterday that 88 percent of the country’s highest denomination 2,000-rupee currency notes — worth 3.14 trillion rupees — have been returned since its decision to withdraw them from circulation.

The RBI said in May 2023 that it would withdraw these high-value notes, permitting their exchange or deposit until Sept. 30. The total value of 2,000-rupee notes in circulation was down to 3.56 trillion rupees as of May 19 from 3.62 trillion rupees as on Mar. 31 — the end of the last fiscal year — the Central Bank said in a statement.

Currently, 420 billion rupees worth of these notes are in circulation, it said. Data collected from major banks indicate that about 87 percent of the banknotes received by lenders was in the form of deposits, while around 13 percent had been exchanged for other denominations, RBI said.

People can exchange or deposit them in their bank accounts by Sept. 30. The RBI’s 19 regional offices and other banks have been taking Rs. 2,000 notes for exchange with lower denomination one. The RBI said people can deposit or exchange for lower denomination notes till Sept. 30 for up to Rs. 20,000 at a time.

The 2,000-rupee notes were introduced in 2016 with the intention to replenish the Indian economy’s currency in circulation after the Government’s move to demonetise the economy by scrapping high-value banknotes.

However, the Central Bank has frequently said that it wants to reduce high value notes in circulation and had stopped printing 2,000-rupee notes over the past four years.

RBI has urged public to utilise the next two months to deposit and/or exchange Rs. 2,000 banknotes held with them to avoid any rush in the last few days before Sept. 30, 2023.