RBI provides some relief to people depositing in legal tender

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday announced that people can withdraw the amount over and above a weekly limit of Rs. 24,000 if the deposits had been made in legal tender.

The move is supposed to allow comfort to individuals, who were earlier

hesitant to deposit legal tender following the withdrawal of high-value currency notes from November 8.

"It has been decided, on careful consideration, to allow withdrawals of deposits made in current legal tender notes on or after November 29, 2016, beyond the current limits," it said in a statement.

While deposits of the demonetised notes in banks since November 9 has kicked a total of Rs. 8.11 lakh crore (57 percent of the total value of demonetized notes), notes worth Rs. 33,498 crore (three percent) have been exchanged.

"It has been reported that certain depositors are hesitating to deposit their monies into bank accounts in view of the current limits on cash withdrawals from accounts," added the RBI.

Even as deposits surge, there have been reports that the printing of Rs. 2,000 notes has been stalled, which is said to have resulted in a drop in the legal tender being released by banks.

Also, the RBI had reported a total withdrawal of Rs. 2.16 lakh crore as cash.