The State Bank of India (SBI) has so far collected an estimated Rs 17,000 crore worth of Rs 2,000 notes either through deposits into accounts or exchanged for lower denomination notes, the state-run lender’s chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara has said.

Giving the breakup, Khara said about Rs 14,000 crore has come in form of deposits while Rs 3,000 crore has been exchanged. “Generally, we are about 20% of the market,” the SBI chairman said while interacting with reporters today during his visit to GIFT City.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes on 19 May. While 23 May was fixed as the starting date for depositing or exchanging the Rs 2,000 note in banks, the end date was to be 30 September. 

“Since the Rs 2,000 note continues to be legal tender, there is a fairly wide window that has been given for exchange. This has taken away the anxiety from the minds of people,” Khara said.

The rush to exchange Rs 2,000 notes will be more in SBI as the state-owned bank has assured customers right from the start that no form or requisition slip or identity proof would be required for the service. There is no common rule followed by the banks, with several insisting on identify proof for exchange of the Rs 2,000 notes. 

On Monday, SBI listed foreign currency bonds of USD 750 million on India INX’s Global Securities Market.

“Our IBU (IFSC Banking Unit) has been operational in GIFT City since 2016. It has a balance sheet of USD 9 billion dollars. We have also set up a regional office today whereby we will be able to oversee our operations of our offices with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar and the IBU. This will be the controlling office for these centres. This office in GIFT City will handle assets of USD 15-20 billion,” Khara said, adding that SBI’s balance sheet in international banking currently stands at USD 60 billion and is about 10% of the bank’s overall balance sheet.

“We believe that South Asia will assume greater significance in days to come, particularly, if India becomes a manufacturing hub for exports for many of the global payers. Then these markets will be the immediate ones which will be available to be tapped. Our operations which are there in these countries will help us provide the required support to all the manufacturers who will be exporting to these countries,” Khara said.

SBI has identified a few high-value stressed accounts that will be transferred to the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL) this financial year, Khara said. He, however, did not divulge the identify of these accounts.

On interest rates, Khara expects the RBI to maintain a ‘pause’. “There was a pause from RBI and seeing the inflation numbers, we expect the pause to continue. We have to keep a watch on global scenarios and RBI will also look into multiple data points before taking a final call. But as of now, we believe, RBI should continue the pause,” he said.