Deadline to exchange pre-2005 currency notes ends on January 1

NEW DELHI: People have only 11-days left to exchange currency notes of various denominations, including 500 and 1,000, which were printed before 2005.

The deadline for exchanging the pre-2005 notes is January 1, 2015.

The Reserve Bank has so far shredded 144.66 crore such notes valued at Rs 52,855 crore since the launch of the drive to take out the pre-2005 notes from the circulation.

Post-2005 notes have added security features and help in curbing the menace of fake currency.

The central bank had also said these notes will retain their legal tender status and the public can continue to use these for any transaction/payment.

On January 22, RBI had announced it would withdraw from circulation all such notes from April 1 and the public was advised to approach banks to exchange such notes.

Currency notes issued before 2005 do not have the year of printing on the reverse side. In notes issued after 2005, the year of printing is visible at the bottom on the reverse.

The Finance Ministry recently said the withdrawal exercise was in conformity with the standard international practice of not having multiple series of notes in circulation at the same time.

As per the latest data, 73.2 crore pieces notes of Rs 100 (Rs 7,320 crore), 51.85 crore pieces of Rs 500 (Rs 25,925 crore) and 19.61 crore notes of Rs 1,000 (Rs 19,610 crore) have been shredded in the regional offices of RBI from January to October this year.

The banks have already been asked by the RBI not issue pre-2005 series notes over the counter or through ATMs.

As per RBI, the volume of the banknotes printed prior to 2005 today, still in circulation, is not significant enough to impact the general public in a large way.