New Delhi, June 21 (IANS): June 30 will be the last day for exchanging pre-2005 currency notes, including those of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 denominations, at banks, the Reserve Bank of India has notified.
The RBI has asked the public to deposit the old design notes in their bank accounts or exchange them at a convenient bank branch.
The central bank had extended its earlier exchange deadline of January 1 till the end of this month.
Besides being standard international practice to withdraw old series notes, the RBI said the pre-2005 banknotes have fewer security features compared with banknotes printed thereafter, designed to curb the menace of fake currency.
The finance ministry has informed parliament that over 164 crore pre-2005 currency notes of various denominations, with the face value of around Rs.21,750 crore, were shredded in regional offices of the RBI in a 13-month period ending January.