The 2000 rupee note was introduced by the Reserve Bank of India on 8 November 2016. The introduction of this denomination of the

Indian rupee The Indian rupee (symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (Hindi plural; singular: ''paisa''). The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve ...

was part of the government's demonetization exercise aimed at curbing corruption, black money and counterfeit currency. On the same day, the Indian government announced the demonetization of the existing 500 rupee and 1000 rupee notes. The intention behind demonetization was to invalidate the old notes to disrupt illegal activities and promote a shift towards digital transactions. Initially, the circulation of the 2000 rupee note was limited due to the demonetization exercise and the subsequent re-calibration of ATMs and cash distribution systems. However, as the process unfolded, the note became more widely available for circulation. On 19 May 2023, the

Reserve Bank of India Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is the central bank of the Republic of India, and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system and Indian rupee, Indian currency. Owned by the Ministry of Finance (India), Min ...

announced its decision to withdraw the ₹2,000 notes from circulation. However ₹2000 note will still be legal tender.

History

It was released by the

(RBI) on 8 November 2016 after the demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes and has been in circulation since 10 November 2016. It is a part of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series of banknotes with a completely new design. This was the highest currency note printed by RBI that was in active circulation, ever since the 1,000 rupee note was demonetised in November 2016. Before the official announcement by RBI, the media reported that ₹2000 notes had been printed from the currency printing press in

Mysuru Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

by the end of October 2016. Post

2016 Indian banknote demonetisation On 8 November 2016, the Government of India announced the demonetisation of all ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series. It also announced the issuance of new ₹500 and ₹2,000 banknotes in exchange for the demonetis ...

, seven new currency notes have been announced by the

-- ₹2,000, ₹500, ₹200, ₹100, ₹50, ₹20, and ₹10. According to the RBI data, there were 3,285.87 million pieces of ₹2000 notes in circulation at end-March 2017. A year after (on March 31, 2018), there was only a marginal increase in the number at 3,363.28 million pieces. Of the total currency in circulation amounting to ₹18,037 billion at end-March 2018, ₹2000 notes accounted for 37.3 percent, down from 50.2 percent at end-March 2017. The share has come down to 22.6 per cent at end-March 2020. The ₹2,000 note was created as a quick fix, to have enough circulation of currency. With lower denominations available in circulation, the Indian government and the RBI has rolled back ₹2,000 notes from circulation. Under the rationale that the ₹2000 note was being used for

hoarding Hoarding is the act of engaging in excessive acquisition of items that are not needed or for which no space is available. Civil unrest or the threat of natural disasters may lead people to hoard foodstuffs, water, gasoline, and other essentials ...

and

tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...

, RBI has stopped the printing of banknotes of ₹2000 denomination and no new notes of this denomination were printed during the 2019-20 financial year.

Withdrawal

On 20 May 2023, the Reserve Bank of India announced its decision to withdraw the ₹2,000 notes from circulation. Despite this, the notes would remain legal tender and could be exchanged or deposited in bank accounts until 30 September 2023, . In addition, banks were instructed not to issue 2,000-rupee notes and to increase their staff and counters to handle the expected surge in transactions. The government clarified that this measure is not a "demonetisation" effort. However, the announcement caused some concern among the public, with comparisons being made to the previous demonetisation initiative. While certain BJP lawmakers praised the move as a "second surgical strike on black money," opposition leaders argue that the decision to withdraw notes in 2016 was flawed and that this recent action is an acknowledgment of that mistake. Following the government's announcement, there were reports of individuals using 2,000-rupee notes to make payments at petrol stations and shops in an attempt to dispose of them. On 1 September 2023, Reserve Bank of India informed that 93% of ₹2,000 notes, worth ₹3.32

lakh crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the Indian ...

have been returned to the banking system, and therefore ₹2,000 notes in circulation stood at ₹0.24 lakh crore, at the close of business on 31 August 2023. On 30 September 2023, Reserve Bank of India informed that 96% of ₹2,000 notes, worth ₹3.42 lakh crore have been returned to the banking system, and therefore ₹2,000 notes in circulation stood at ₹0.14 lakh crore. Reserve Bank of India extended the deposit/exchange deadline to 7 October 2023, and thereafter can be exchanged by individuals at the 19 RBI Issue Offices only. On 1 November 2023, Reserve Bank of India informed that 97% of ₹2,000 notes have been returned to the banking system, however ₹2,000 notes worth ₹10,000 crore are still in circulation with public, at the close of business on 31 October 2023. On 1 December 2023, Reserve Bank of India informed that 97.26% of ₹2,000 notes have been returned to the banking system, however ₹2,000 notes worth ₹9,760 crore are still in circulation with public, at the close of business on 30 November 2023. RBI said that 2,000 bank notes continue to be legal tender. On 1 March 2024, Reserve Bank of India informed that 97.62% of ₹2,000 notes have been returned to the banking system, however ₹2,000 notes worth ₹8,470 crore are still in circulation with public, at the close of business on 29 February 2024. RBI said that 2,000 bank notes continue to be legal tender. On 1 April 2024, Reserve Bank of India informed that 97.69% of ₹2,000 notes have been returned to the banking system, however ₹2,000 notes worth ₹8,202 crore are still in circulation with public, at the close of business on 29 March 2024. As of April 30 2025, the figure has dropped to rupees ₹6,266 crore, indicating that 98.24% of the 2000 rupees notes in circulation at the time of the announcement have been returned.

Design

The 2000 banknote was a 66 mm × 166 mm

Magenta Magenta () is a purple-red color. On color wheels of the RGB color model, RGB (additive) and subtractive color, CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located precisely midway between blue and red. It is one of the four colors of ink used in colo ...

coloured note, with the obverse side featuring a portrait of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

, the Ashoka Pillar Emblem, and the signature of

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

. It has

Braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...

print on it, to assist the visually challenged in identifying the currency. The reverse side features a motif of the Mangalyaan, representing India's first interplanetary space mission, and the logo and tag line for

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission is a country-wide campaign initiated by the Government of India on 2 October 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management and to create Open Defec ...

Security features

Microscopic view of Rs 2000 Indian Currency

The 2000 banknotes has multiple security features, listed below: *See-through registration device with denominational numeral ₹2000 *Latent image with denominational numeral ₹2000 *Denominational numeral २००० rendered in Devnagari script * Micro letters 'RBI' and '2000' on the left side of the banknote *Windowed security thread with inscriptions 'भारत', RBI, and ₹2000 on banknotes, with a colour shift. The thread colour changes from green to blue when the note is tilted *Guarantee Clause, the Governor’s signature with the Promise Clause, and the RBI's emblem on the right side *Denominational numeral with Rupee Symbol, 2000 in colour changing ink (green to blue) on bottom right *

Ashoka Pillar The pillars of Ashoka are a series of Monolith, monolithic columns dispersed throughout the Indian subcontinent, erected—or at least inscribed with Edicts of Ashoka, edicts—by the 3rd Mauryan Emperor Ashoka the Great, who reigned from to ...

emblem on the right Mahatma Gandhi portrait and electrotype (2000) watermarks *Number panel with numerals growing from small to big on the top left side and bottom right side. *For the visually impaired Intaglio (raised printing) of Mahatma Gandhi portrait, Ashoka Pillar emblem, bleed lines and identity mark *Horizontal rectangle with 2000 in raised print on the right *Seven angular bleed lines on left and right side in raised print (obverse) *Year of printing of the note on the left (reverse)

Languages

Like other

banknotes, the 2000 banknote has its amount written in 17+1 languages (Braille language added on new currency notes for

visually impaired Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...

). On the obverse, the denomination is written in English and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

. On the reverse is a language panel which displays the denomination of the note in 15 of the 22

official languages of India , 22 languages have been classified as scheduled languages under the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India. There is no national language of India. While the constitution was adopted in 1950, article 343 declared that Hindi would be th ...

. The languages are displayed in alphabetical order. Languages included on the panel are Assamese,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, Gujarati,

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

, Kashmiri,

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi,

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, and

References