Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Tuesday 88% of the country’s highest denomination 2000-rupee currency notes – worth 3.14 trillion rupees ($38.17 billion) – have been returned since its decision to withdraw them from circulation.
The RBI said in May it would withdraw these high-value notes, permitting their exchange or deposit until Sept. 30.
The total value of 2000-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% of the banknotes received by lenders was in the form of deposits, while around 13% had been exchanged for other denominations, the RBI said.
The 2000-rupee denominated notes were introduced in 2016 with the intention to replenish the Indian economy’s currency in circulation after the government’s shock move to demonetize 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 2000-rupee notes over the past four years.
($1 = 82.2550 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
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