Dear Comrades,
PBI NEWS- 21.2.2014
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
announced the decision to withdraw from circulation all currency notes printed
prior to 2005. It is a standard international practice to withdraw old series
of banknotes from time to time. The reason for withdrawal of banknotes printed
prior to 2005 is to remove them from the market as they have fewer security
features compared to banknotes printed after 2005. It is expected that this
will prevent counterfeiting of banknotes. The RBI has already been withdrawing
these notes from the market in a routine manner through banks. In RBI’s view,
the volume of the banknotes printed prior to 2005 today, still in circulation,
is not significant enough to impact general public in a large way.
The schedule of withdrawal announced by RBI
is as under:
i) All
older series of banknotes issued prior to 2005 would be acceptable for all
kinds of monetary transactions only till March 31, 2014.
ii) Thereafter
the public will be required to approach bank branches which would provide them
exchange facilities on a ongoing basis.
iii) From
July 1, 2014 onwards, members of public can exchange any number of these old
series notes from the bank branches where they have their account. However,
non-customers would have to furnish proof of their identity and residence to
the Bank to exchange more than 10 pieces of Rs. 500.00 and Rs. 1000.00 notes.
iv) These
notes will continue to be legal tender and, therefore, no end date has been
specified for the exercise.
This information was given by the Minister
of State for Finance Shri Namo Narain Meen in written reply to a question in
Lok Sabha today.
