The State Bank of India (SBI) on Sunday said that no ID proof or requisition of slip is required to exchange Rs 2,000 notes.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes from circulation, and existing notes in circulation can either be deposited in bank accounts or exchanged by September 30.
The RBI has advised banks to stop issuing Rs 2,000 denomination bank notes with immediate effect. Besides, the facility for exchange of Rs 2,000 bank notes up to the limit of Rs 20,000 at a time will be provided at the 19 Regional Offices (ROs) of the RBI having issue departments from May 23.
The SBI issued a statement clarifying that the facility of exchange of Rs 2000 denomination bank notes upto a limit of Rs 20,000 at a time will be allowed without obtaining any requisition slip. Further, no identity proof is required to be submitted by the tenderer at the time of exhange, the statement said.
Opposition members react
Meanwhile, opposition leaders on Saturday attacked the government over the withdrawal of Rs 2000 currency notes from circulation with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee describing it as "Tughlaqi demonetisation drama" and Congress wondering if this was the second "notebandi" exercise.
In a tweet, she said, "Another whimsical and Tughlaqi demonetisation drama of Rs 2,000 notes will hit the common people hard once again by subjecting them to massive harassment. These imperious measures are meant to camouflage the fundamentally anti-people & crony capitalist nature of this regime.
The BJP rejected this was any sort of demonetisation and instead reminded the Congress that even during the rule of Manmohan Singh, old currency notes were taken off circulation.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called for an impartial probe into the entire episode. In a tweet in Hindi, he said, "You inflicted a deep wound on the economy with the first demonetisation. Due to this, the entire unorganised sector was destroyed, MSMEs were closed down and crores of jobs were lost. Now, the 'second demonetisation' of ?2000 note... Is this a cover-up of a wrong decision? Only an unbiased investigation will reveal the truth of the matter."
The RBI had undertaken a similar withdrawal of notes from circulation in 2013-2014.
(With inputs from PTI)
