Bhubaneswar: The process of changing Rs 2,000 notes started across the country on Tuesday amid panic buying. Long queues were witnessed at the banks as eager customers lined up to exchange their Rs 2,000 notes for smaller denominations. The process will continue till September 30, 2023.
According to sources, a day after the central bank’s announcement, many gold jewellery retail outlets in the State witnessed a constant flow of customers with Rs 2,000 notes to buy the yellow metal.
Similarly, the daily use of Rs 2000 currency notes at the filling stations in Odisha witnessed an eight-fold rise as customers can be seen filling fuel in their vehicle using the big notes.
Though banks in Odisha did not see huge footfalls of customers for the exchange on the first day, it is believed that the number may increase in the coming days. The RBI has set September 30 as the deadline for exchange of the notes.
According to sources, customer can either deposit their Rs 2000 notes in their bank accounts or exchange them with Rs 500 and Rs 200 denominations.
Sharing more details about Rs 2000 exchange facilities, State Bank of India (SBI) Bhubaneswar circle Chief General Manager (CGM), Chandrasekhar Sharma said, “There are 890 SBI branches in Odisha. We have Rs 12,000 crore of other denominations in stock to facilitate the exchange of Rs 2000 notes. RBI to provide more if needed.”
“A customer can exchange up to Rs 20,000 at once. If there is no rush, one can exchange multiple times a day. No identity proof is required to exchange Rs 2000 notes,” Sharma informed.
“I am a current account holder at this branch. I had 21 notes of Rs 2000 denomination. I came to deposit the cash. People are not worried that much as many of them do not have Rs 2000 currency notes with them,” said a person who came to SBI’s main branch in Cuttack.
“Every staffer has been sensitised with RBI guidelines. As September 30 has been fixed as the deadline, I urge people not to be in a hurry to exchange their notes,” said Santosh Kumar Behera, manager of Cuttack SBI main branch.
