Facility to exchange pre-2005 banknotes will be available only at select offices of RBI from tomorrow

The Reserve Bank on Thursday said it will accept pre-2005 banknotes only at its select branches from Friday as majority of the old series banknotes have been withdrawn.

RBI is pulling out the pre-2005 banknotes because of fewer security features compared to banknotes printed after 2005.

The central bank said it has observed that a major portion of the pre-2005 banknotes have been withdrawn from circulation and only a small percentage of these notes remains in circulation.

"On a review, therefore, the Reserve Bank has decided that from July 1, 2016 the facility of exchanging the pre-2005 banknotes will be available only at the select offices of the Reserve Bank," it said in a release.

The branches are: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Belapur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.

Reserve Bank in December 2015 had set June 30, 2016 as the last date for public to exchange pre-2005 banknotes at the identified bank branches and Issue Offices of the Reserve Bank.

RBI also clarified that these pre-2005 banknotes will continue to remain legal tender.

Further, RBI said it is a standard international practice that not to have currency notes from multiple series remaining in circulation at the same time.

Soliciting cooperation from the public in withdrawing these banknotes from circulation, RBI has urged them to exchange pre-2005 banknotes at its mentioned offices as per their convenience.

"The Reserve Bank will continue to monitor and review the process so that the public is not inconvenienced in any manner," it said.