Old currency notes deadline extended

Mumbai: The deadline for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes of various denominations, including Rs500 and Rs1,000, has been extended by another six months till June, 30, 2015.“The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stated that the public can do so till June 30, 2015. Earlier in March 2014, it had set the last date for public to exchange these notes was Janu-ary 1, 2015,” the RBI said. The central bank clarified that all such not-es will continue to remain a legal tender. These no-tes can be exchanged for their full value, it added.

Currency notes issued before 2005 do not have the year of printing on the reverse side. In notes issued post 2005, the year of printing is visible at the bottom on the reverse.
Post-2005 notes have added security features and help in curbing the menace of fake currency.

Seeking cooperation for withdrawing pre-2005 currency notes from circulation, the RBI has asked the public to deposit the old design notes in their bank accounts or excha-nge them at a bank bran-ch convenient to them.Explaining the move, the RBI said that now the notes in Mahatma Gandhi series have been in circulation for a decade. A majority of the old notes have also been withdrawn through bank branches.

“It has, therefore, decided to withdraw the remai-ning old design notes from circulation. Not having currency notes in multiple series in circulation at the same time is a standard international practice,” it said, adding the RBI has so far shredded 144.66 crore such notes valued at Rs52,855 crore.