‘Restrict’ the circulation of ₹2,000 banknotes, management tells bank employees

The senior management of a prominent public sector bank has sent an email to the employees instructing them not to disburse ₹2,000 notes during bank withdrawals and not to even load the denomination at ATMs, according to the Business Insider India. The email says, “This will be formally communicated soon.”

That simply means that the bank will accept two thousand rupee note but will not release it.

The bank directive was issued to branch managers to execute it from the morning of February 7, the Business Insider India stated.

“Only denominations of ₹500, ₹200 and ₹100 are loaded into ATMs. The supply of ₹100 notes will be increased through currency chests for which a special drive is being undertaken,” said the email. But, no explanation was given behind the restriction on the circulation.

However, the sources Business Insider talked to confirmed that this written communication was a mistake, though the instruction to restrict “circulation” of 2000 rupee note still remained.

Reacting to this information, Business Insider has also written to the RBI requesting an explanation.

Public Sector Banks seem to have started following the instruction as Business Insider tried to withdraw money of ₹10,000 in ₹2,000 denominations but failed to get any.

This move perhaps comes in the wake of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data that there was a flood of fake currency in the market and more than 56% of this currency was in the form of 2000 rupee notes.

Without any clarification from the incumbent government or RBI, the RBI had released a statement that the printing of ₹2,000 currency notes has been stopped altogether in October 2019, stated the Business Insider.