NEW DELHI: Only ten days are left to exchange pre-2005 currency notes, including those of Rs. 500 note and Rs. 1,000 note denominations, at banks as the deadline to do so is ending on June 30th.
Seeking cooperation for withdrawing pre-2005 currency notes from circulation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the public to deposit the old design notes before year 2005 in their bank accounts or exchange them at a bank branch convenient to them.
Reportedly the earlier deadline to exchange pre-2005 old currency was January 1st, but later the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had extended the last date to be exchanging notes till the end of month June.
All pre-2005 notes continue to remain a legal tender. These all notes can be exchanged with their full value at all bank branches.
How to identify pre-2005 currency notes easily:
It is very simple way to identify pre-2005 currency notes.
- The currency notes that had issued before 2005 do not have the year of printing on the reverse side of the currency notes.
- While the currency notes that were issued post 2005, they have a proper year of printing is visible at the bottom on the reverse side on the currency.
As per the RBI officials said, “The advisability behind the move to withdraw entire banknotes printed before to 2005 is to remove them from the market because they contains less security features as compared with the banknotes printed after 2005.”
“It is standard international practice to withdraw old series notes. Post-2005 notes have added security features and help in curbing the menace of fake currency”, RBI said.
Over Rs. 164 crore pre-2005 currency notes of various denominations, including of Rs 1,000 note were shredded in regional offices of Reserve Bank in thirteen-month period ending January.
The face value of the shredded currency notes was around Rs. 21,750 crore. As per the details given in Parliament in March about pre-2005 currency notes face value note wise,
- 86.87 crore pieces of Rs 100,
- 56.19 crore pieces of Rs 500 and
- 21.75 crore pieces of Rs. 1,000
were shredded.
So, RBI officials requested to Indians exchange their pre-2005 currency notes before the expiry date with full value and support to withdraw the process of currency notes printed before 2005.