Banks on Tuesday started accepting the Rs. 2,000 denominated bank notes as part of the Reserve Bank of India’s instructions for their withdrawal from the market by September 30, 2023. However, these notes will continue to be legal tender.

While there is no limit to depositing Rs. 2,000 denomination notes in a bank account, the exchange limit is fixed at Rs. 20,000 at a time. People can also exchange the notes at RBI’s 19 regional offices across the country.

The exchange process is the same as depositing cash in a bank account. Banks will accept the Rs. 2,000 notes like any other bank note. There is no special requirement for depositing these notes into an account. 

The only condition is that your bank account should be Know Your Customer (KYC) compliant and meet other statutory requirements as per RBI.  

Also, there is no restriction on the deposit amount, although there is a limit on exchanging them. There is no need to fill out any form or slip. One can easily swap these notes up to Rs. 20,000 at a time.  

Further, one need not be an account holder with the bank to exchange them. You can exchange these notes at any bank branch. Also, there are no charges for the exchange facility.

RBI has asked banks to make arrangements for the smooth implementation of its order without causing any inconvenience to people, especially senior citizens, women, and persons with disabilities. 

In the case of remote locations, RBI has provisioned “business correspondents” to facilitate the service. In case people use the services of BCs, they can exchange the notes up to Rs. 4,000 per day.  

If the bank does not accept these notes, people may contact the bank’s senior officials. And if they do not reply within 30 days of complaining, they can register a complaint with the Integrated Ombudsman Scheme 2021 at RBI’s Complaint Management System portal.

The RBI notification sparked concern among a section of the public who worried over the troubles they faced during demonetization. Though RBI has clarified the notes will continue to be legal tender, which means they are valid for any transaction, their past experience may have created confusion. 

Senior citizens usually feel comfortable doing cash transactions. However, due to RBI’s decision, they may have to visit a bank branch to deposit the notes if they have them and no one to do it on their behalf. So they can either deposit them in their bank accounts or exchange them with smaller denomination notes.