MC Exclusive: SBI receives over Rs 80,000 crore worth of Rs 2,000 notes, shows RTI

People queue to withdraw and deposit their money at State Bank of India ATM in Guwahati(File Pic)

India's largest public sector lender, State Bank of India ( SBI), received Rs 80,886 crores worth of Rs 2,000 notes till September 30, 2023, the bank replied to an RTI filed by Moneycontrol.

SBI also added that of these, Rs 14,079 crore were received as exchange and Rs 66,807 crore through deposits.

To a query on which segment the bank has received the maximum notes from, SBI replied, "The information from which retail or from business has not compiled in the ordinary course of business this information is not centrally available, "the bank replied.

On May 19, the Central Bank announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency bills from circulation, citing it as part of its clean-note policy, and advised banks to stop issuing the bills with immediate effect. "In pursuance of the 'Clean Note Policy' of the RBI, it has been decided to withdraw the Rs 2,000 denomination banknotes from circulation," the RBI had said.

According to the last RBI release of September 30, 2023, about 96 percent of the Rs 2,000 banknotes in circulation as of May 19, 2023, have been returned.

The RBI, citing data received from banks, said that of the total value of Rs 3.56 lakh crore of Rs 2, 000 banknotes in circulation as of May 19, 2023, Rs 3.42 lakh crore have been returned, leaving only Rs 0.14 lakh crore in circulation as of the close of business on September 29, 2023.

However, on October 20, RBI Governor, Shaktikanta Das, exuded confidence that all the remaining Rs 2,000 notes would be exchanged or deposited. “Rs 2,000 notes are coming back and only Rs 10,000 crore is left in the system. The expectation is that the amount will also come back,” he said on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi.

Recently, Moneycontrol reported that brazen middlemen, operating right outside the RBI office in the National Capital, are making a killing from ‘customers’ seeking to exchange the Rs 2,000 notes, charging as much as Rs 400 per bill.

The deadline to exchange the withdrawn notes at bank branches ended on October 7, but the facility is still available at RBI offices, which have drawn long queues of people who couldn’t deposit or exchange their notes earlier.

There is a limit of Rs 20,000 per person to exchange these notes.

Sensing a business opportunity, the interlopers have deployed several people to stand in queues to exchange these notes. They accept a large quantity of such notes from prospective customers and pay them the amount out of bags of money ready at hand after deducting Rs 300-400 per note. Customers who don’t want to stand in long queues multiple times don’t mind paying the commission to the middlemen.