After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the scrapping of the seven-year-old ₹2000 notes, the official website of the central bank crashed as people rushed to know more details about the announcement.
Earlier, the website had faced a similar fate following heavy traffic after PM Narendra Modi’s surprise demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes in November 2016. The announcement had also caused long queues at ATMs and petrol pumps.
Notably, the ₹2,000 denomination bank note was introduced in November the same year to meet the economy’s requirements notes following the withdrawal of ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes. However, since banknotes in other denominations became readily available, the objective of introducing the ₹2000 banknotes has been fulfilled, leading to the discontinuation of their printing in 2018-19.
Approximately 89% of the ₹2000 banknotes were issued before March 2017 and are nearing the end of their estimated lifespan of 4-5 years.
The decision to withdraw the ₹2000 banknotes from circulation is part of its “Clean Note Policy.”
The ₹2,000 notes will continue to be legal tender till September 30 as RBI has asked banks to provide deposit and exchange facilities for ₹2,000 notes until the end of September.
