In Photos: No Panic, No Rush, People Are in No Hurry To Exchange Rs 2000 Notes

I visited bank branches at Delhi's Connaught Place and Nehru Place; there were no queues to exchange Rs 2,000 notes.

On Friday, 19 May, the Reserve Bank Of India announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 denomination bank notes from circulation.

(Image Altered by Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

On Friday, 19 May, the Reserve Bank Of India announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 denomination bank notes from circulation. The central bank has given four months, till September 30, for everyone to get their Rs 2,000 notes exchanged with Rs 500 or lesser denomination of bank notes. Though I didn't have a Rs 2,000 note, I went to some branches of different banks at Connaught Place in New Delhi to see if there was chaos at the banks. On 24 May, at around 12 PM, Punjab National Bank's (PNB) branch at Connaught Place had no such queues for people wanting to exchange their notes. A bank official said that work at the branch is regular.

Adjacent to PNB's branch, work at ICICI Bank's branch also seemed normal. "You can see at the branch, there are hardly two-three customers at any of our counters. We aren't even expecting too much crowd because everyone won't have Rs 2,000 notes as their circulation was limited even before the announcement," said a bank official who refused to be named.

Sandeep Kumar, an ice cream seller at Connaught Place, near Palika Bazaar, said he hadn't received Rs 2,000 notes in the last few days, so the withdrawal of the notes has barely affected him. "I am fine with the withdrawal of the Rs 2,000 note because I mostly sell ice cream ranging between Rs 20 to Rs 60, and if someone gives a Rs 2,000 note for that, it becomes a huge task for me to return the change," said Sandeep.

From Connaught Place, I went to Nehru Place to see if the situation was any different. At the SBI Branch in Nehru Place, around 15-20 people were waiting to exchange or deposit their Rs 2,000 notes. "Even though four months have been given to us to exchange notes, I don't believe the government on this. They always do the unexpected every time, so I want to change my notes as soon as possible," said a gentleman in the line. On the other hand, Rajesh Kumar, the branch manager, said, "Load of customers is much less than what we expected, and not many people are panicking. Since the government has given them enough time, people should not worry."

The situation at almost all the other bank branches was similar to Connaught Place. It was business as usual. In photo: ICICI Bank & Indian Bank branches at Nehru Place in New Delhi.

"We are getting Rs 2,000 notes, slightly more than usual. Since we have to take care of our sales, we are accepting these notes as of now," said a shoe vendor who refused to be named at Nehru Place.

Withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes is seen as an opportunity to increase sales by the vendors at New Delhi's Nehru Place market. They say they want to take advantage of the four-month window provided by the government to exchange Rs 2,000 notes to increase sales.

"We want people to come and spend their Rs 2,000 note at our shop. I am hoping that business will increase. But as of now, I haven't seen any exceptional growth in sales. We have a four-month window, let's see what happens," said Ghulam Mustafa, an electronic shop owner.

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