No rush in banks in TN, but ₹2,000 practically ceases to be legal tender

On day one of the window to exchange Rs 2,000 currency notes, which have been withdrawn, many banks in Tamil Nadu said there was no rush from customers to deposit such notes in their bank accounts on Tuesday.

“Contrary to the crowded scenes we witnessed in the aftermath of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes in 2016, we have not been thronged by people wanting to deposit the pink notes of Rs 2,000,” said a manager of a nationalized bank branch in Anna Nagar, Chennai.

No bulk deposit of ₹2000 notes

Bankers said there were only odd customers who walked in with a few currency notes for depositing them. “Even among those who came in, they had only one or two Rs 2,000 notes. There has been no bulk deposit of the denomination,” said another manager of a private bank in Royapettah.

However, for practical purposes traders including petrol bunks have stopped accepting the pink notes.

Citizens find it hard to spend ₹2000 notes

“Notwithstanding the advisory by the Consortium of Indian Petroleum Dealers to fuel stations to accept the Rs 2,000 note, I could not fill petrol using the currency note. The staff at the bunk refused to accept it. I did not want to hassle myself visiting the bank to deposit it, so I thought I would rather fill fuel but it was in vain,” lamented Lakshmi Shree, who said she had just one pink currency note left with her.

However, there were reports that some jewellery shops, especially the one’s without proper accounting systems, encouraged customers with bulk notes to purchase gold at a premium rate. This could not be independently verified.