Thiruvananthapuram: The finance department on Monday has directed state treasuries to accept Rs 2,000 denomination notes hours after restricting officers from receiving the notes which are being withdrawn from circulation. The department will issue a detailed circular to solve the confusion over the same.
However, exchanging Rs 2,000 notes in treasuries will not be allowed. The finance department has instructed that these currencies should be accepted as deposits.
On Monday morning, the finance department gave verbal instructions to the officials restricting them from accepting the banknotes which are being withdrawn from circulation.
Meanwhile, the Kerala State Beverages Corporation Ltd (Bevco) on Saturday directed all its outlets to stop accepting Rs 2,000 currency notes with immediate effect.
It was on May 19 that the Reserve Bank of India announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes from circulation but gave the public time till September 30 to either deposit such notes in accounts or exchange them at banks.
In a statement, RBI said it has asked banks to stop issuing Rs 2,000 notes with immediate effect.
While the RBI did not specify a limit for depositing the Rs 2,000 currency notes in bank accounts, the exchange of a maximum of Rs 20,000 (10 notes of Rs 2,000) for other currency notes will be allowed at a time.
The move comes amid concerns about the highest denomination notes being used to hoard black money. The RBI had stopped printing Rs 2,000 notes in 2018-19 and the notes were rarely in circulation.
The Rs 2,000 denomination banknote was introduced in November 2016, primarily to meet the currency requirement of the economy in an expeditious manner after the withdrawal of the legal tender status of all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes in circulation at that time.
