Deluge Of Rs 2,000 Notes At Petrol Stations, Staff Says "No Change"

Stung by their ordeal following the shock demonetisation of 2016, Delhi residents are making a beeline to petrol stations to offload Rs 2,000 notes that are being withdrawn from circulation.

The high-value notes can be exchanged or deposited in bank accounts between tomorrow and September 30 this year, the Reserve Bank of India has said. Assuring the people that there is no need to panic, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das today said the Rs 2,000 notes will continue to be legal tender after the deadline.

Delhiites, however, are in no mood to take chances. The serpentine queues outside banks in 2016 still fresh in their memory, they are rushing to fuel pumps.

NDTV spoke to several customers at fuel pumps in east Delhi as they waited to fill up their tanks and empty their pockets of the high-value notes.

Akhil Gupta doesn't have many Rs 2,000 notes. "I have decided that I will use them to refuel over the next four months," he said.

Azeem, who holds a pink note in his hand, runs a shop. "Some shopkeepers are not accepting the high value notes. So I have decided that I will use them to refuel," he said.

Minu, also waiting for her turn at the fuel pump, said they started spending Rs 2,000 notes soon after the announcement on Saturday. "We have decided to buy jewellery and other items to spend these notes quickly," she said.

Fuel pumps, meanwhile, are receiving these high value notes in large numbers. Shailendra Mishra, who works as a sales manager at a petrol pump in Mayur Vihar, told NDTV, "Earlier, we would get a maximum of 50 notes of Rs 2,000 in 24 hours. Now we are getting as many as 300."

The jump in payments by high-value notes has led to problems for fuel pump operators. "People are using Rs 2,000 notes to pay for fuel worth Rs 200-300. We are struggling to return the change," said Raman, who works at a fuel pump in Mayur Vihar.