The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified that banks need to ask customers to show their identity and fill a simple form when they exchange ₹2,000 notes for lower denomination ones. This clarification was made as some customers had reported that banks were refusing to exchange these notes without asking for their identity proof and filling a form.
The RBI has issued a statement that banks should adhere to the existing KYC (Know Your Customer) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) guidelines in such transactions. This means, banks have to comply with their respective KYC procedures whenever a large amount of money is involved in a transaction.
Additionally, the RBI has asked banks not to impose any charge on their customers for exchanging ₹2,000 notes. The RBI also asked banks to give customers only soiled/mutilated/defaced notes and not shredded ones.
Customers should double-check and ensure that all notes provided by the bank are genuine. Banks should take necessary measures to validate the genuineness of all notes exchanged through their systems.
In order to help customers, banks should display clearly the KYC’s norms at all their branches and also on their websites. This will ensure that customers know when and why they need to submit identity proofs.