Unlike 2016 demonetisation, no panic among public after withdrawal of ₹2,000 notes, shows survey

A survey has shown that there is no panic or fear among the public after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the withdrawal of ₹2,000 currency notes. The public has been granted time until September 30 by the central bank to exchange their ₹2,000 notes for banknotes of different denominations at any bank branch. While this announcement proved to be less disruptive than the 2016 demonetisation announcement to demonetise 86 per cent of the country's currency in circulation overnight, the Indians have stepped up their purchases to sidestep the need to exchange ₹2,000 notes at the banks.

There have been reports of people buying transport fuel, luxury watches, gold and silver jewellery to avoid the hassle of standing in a queue and getting their notes exchanged. However, there are no reports of any panic purchases, unlike in 2016.

The survey, conducted by LocalCircles, received 11,541 responses on the question if people support the government’s move of withdrawing ₹2,000 notes from circulation. The survey showed that 64% of respondents in support of the RBI move to pull ₹2,000 currency notes from circulation. “The data shows 64% of those surveyed support the move; 22% are opposed to withdrawal of the 2000 rupee note; 12% indicated it makes no difference to them; and 2% of respondents are not sure,” the survey found.

About 68 per cent of the respondents also believe that the RBI’s move to withdraw ₹2,000 notes from circulation will “enable those with black money to exploit the situation” and convert them into lower denomination notes. Some surveyed people also said that they have had difficulty exchanging their ₹2,000 notes after the RBI announcement.

“Out of 3,826 who responded to this query, 91% stated that they “have experienced difficulty in using the 2000 rupee note while only 9% denied experiencing any difficulty,” the survey mentioned.