₹2,000 note: Delhiites have a bank full of jugaads

After RBI’s announcement to withdraw ₹2,000 denomination banknotes from circulation, Delhiites share what all they are doing to get rid of their currency without having to make their rounds to the bank. Meanwhile, the notes remain to be legal tender, and can be exchanged at the banks until September 30, 2023.

Soon after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) announcement to withdraw ₹2,000 currency notes from circulation, on Friday, there were talks of who from among the family will head to the nearby bank on which day to do the chore. Banks have started accepting ₹2,000 notes, but even before that Delhiites found out their jugaad to ensure they don’t have to spend much time at the banks. “The note is legal tender, so the petrol pump guy couldn’t say no to taking it when I gave him a ₹2,000 note and asked refill fuel worth ₹200 in my bike. Bechara, kya hi bolta (chuckles),” says Nihal Singh, a consultant at a management consulting firm, who feels elated to have got rid of at least few of his notes like this, and adds, “Waise bhi zyada nahi hain. After the last demonetisation, I had stopped keeping cash and have been making most payments online ever since Covid-19 began.”

There is time until September 30, 2023 to get ₹2,000 notes exchanged at banks; a maximum of ₹20,000 in one transaction. (Photos: Shutterstock (For representation purposes only))

Although there’s a long time till September 30, to get ₹2,000 notes exchanged, but Delhiites are wasting no time to find creative ways to avoid making rounds to the bank by making cash payments at fuel stations, retail outlets, liquor shops, and even restaurants.

Petrol pumps, retail outlets turn safe avenues

The surge in paying bills with ₹2,000 notes has been quite prominent ever since the news came, shares Shyam Sunder, 43, an employee at a fuel station in Mayur Vihar Phase-1. He goes on to reveal his plight: “Pichle do din se yehi ho raha hai. Scooter aur bike wale khaas kar ₹2,000 ka note laate hain aur sirf ₹150 ya ₹200 ka petrol dalwate hain. CNG wali gaadiyon ka bhi yahi haal hai. Since we couldn’t refuse the customers, we started telling them we don’t have enough change.”

Employees at fuel stations share how two-wheelers are requesting for fuel worth ₹200 by paying ₹2,000 notes. (Photo: Raj K Raj/HT (For representation purposes only))

Besides petrol pumps, big retail outlets have also turned out to be “safe avenues”, feels Sumit Sharma, 32, an employee at an electronics outlet in Connaught Place. He informs, “Since the announcement, there has been a surge in cash payments. Most payments that were earlier made via card due to the discounts and schemes that we offer, were also made via cash and some even did full payment in one go! Over the whole of this weekend, there was an immense surge in cash payments. One customer purchased a mobile phone and made a ₹30,000 payment in cash using only ₹2,000 notes! We had to accept it because it is legal tender.”

Stock up the bar and say cheers!

“One commodity that has a long shelf life and when you go to buy it you hardly face any concern in terms of currency, is liquor. So I spent ghar ke saare ₹2,000 notes at the liquor shops in Gurugram,” shares Shivash Chagti, a 26-year-old resident of Rajouri Garden who thought it was the best time to stock up the bar at home. “Till the time the notes are legal tender, this sounds like an efficient solution to me. Now we’re left with the currency in own family business. It’s difficult to find the time to go to a bank and then wait for my turn to get the ₹2,000 notes exchanged. All this sounds easy but in between office and home duties amid this heat, it’s not that easy. So we’ve sent our office boys... ab wo bechare garmi mein ye kaam karwa rahe hain.”

Ration in month end? Why not!

“All my expenditures have been pre-poned,” says Aishwarya Sharma, a 28-year-old product manager at a tech firm in Noida, adding, “Maine toh agle do mahine ki grocery shopping abhi se kar li hai! I especially made a trip to the nearby supermarkets and purchased the ration 10 days prior to what I usually do after receiving the salary. Ab yeh toh karna hi padega so that I don’t spend cash recklessly at this point. Buying things that will be useful in the long run, and at the same time getting rid of my ₹2,000 notes felt like a win-win situation to me. I agree my budget is going a little off due to this, but thode time baad what if these places put up a notice saying they aren’t accepting any more notes. So better to spend them now. And I find this moment as my time to feel like Richie Rich! I don’t want to make those dreaded trips to the bank like last time when demonetisation happened.”

Author tweets @KritiKambiri

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