₹2000 note exchange: Banks ask for ID proof from non-bank customers

Several private banks as well as some state-run lenders are asking customers for photo identity proof such as Aadhaar if they want to exchange ₹2000 notes but don't hold an account with the bank.

An ICICI Bank official working in a Gurugram-based branch told Fortune India that non-bank customers will need to submit identity proof in order to exchange ₹2000 notes.

HDFC Bank too asked non-bank customers to furnish ID proof such as Aadhaar in order to exchange ₹2000 notes, sources told Fortune India.

State-run lender Bank of Baroda also asked non-customers to submit ID proof for exchanging ₹2000 denomination notes.

However, India's largest public sector lender, State Bank of India on Sunday said that no identity proof is required to be submitted while exchanging ₹2000 notes. Another PSU lender Punjab National Bank also instructed its branches that there is no need to submit an Aadhaar card or other official verified documents (OVD) in order to exchange ₹2000 notes.

According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), ₹2000 notes can be exchanged into other denominations up to a limit of ₹20,000 at a time at any bank.

On Monday, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said that banks should follow the existing guidelines for exchange and deposit of ₹2000 notes. "Banks have not been given any additional guidelines when it comes to ₹2,000 banknotes," the RBI governor said. "For example, if one deposits more than ₹50,000 in the bank, they must produce PAN card details. So the existing banking rules will remain in place."

RBI has told banks to maintain daily data on deposits and exchange of ₹2000 banknotes and submit the details as and when called for.

In a notification on May 19, the central bank said that the facility of exchange of ₹2000 banknotes across the counter shall be provided to the public in the usual manner, without restrictions and subject to compliance with extant Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and other applicable statutory requirements.

"The banks shall also be required to comply with Cash Transaction Reporting (CTR) and Suspicious Transaction Reporting (STR) requirements, where applicable," the notification said.

The banking regulator said that ₹2000 denomination notes received by the banks must be sorted immediately through Note Sorting Machines (NSMs) for accuracy and genuineness and deposited in the currency chests or kept ready for dispatch to the nearest issuing office of RBI.

The facility to exchange ₹2000 notes is also being provided at the 19 regional offices of the RBI.

The central bank has asked the general public to utilise the time up to September 30, 2023 to deposit or exchange the ₹2000 notes.

The ₹2000 denomination banknotes were introduced in November 2016, primarily to meet the currency requirement of the economy in an expeditious manner after demonetisation of all ₹500 and ₹1000 notes in circulation at that time. The RBI stopped printing ₹2000 notes in 2018-19.