Withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000

Withdrawal of Legal Tender Status for ₹ 500 and ₹ 1000 Notes: RBI Notice

Government of India vide their Notification no. 2652 dated November 8, 2016 have withdrawn the Legal Tender status of ₹ 500 and ₹ 1,000 denominations of banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series issued by the Reserve Bank of India till November 8, 2016.

This is necessitated to tackle counterfeiting Indian banknotes, to effectively nullify black money hoarded in cash and curb funding of terrorism with fake notes.

Starting from November 10, 2016, members of public/corporates, business firms, societies, trusts, etc., holding these notes can tender them at any office of the Reserve Bank or any bank branch and obtain value thereof by credit into their respective bank accounts.

For their immediate cash needs, these notes of value up to ₹ 4,000 per person can be exchanged for cash over the counter of these bank branches.

Public are advised to present a valid proof of identity for availing this exchange facility.

Value credited to their bank accounts can be freely used by issue of cheques or by remitting through various electronic modes of transfer like NEFT, RTGS, IMPS, mobile banking, internet banking etc. Cash withdrawals from bank accounts, over the bank counters, will be restricted to a limited amount of ₹ 10,000 per day subject to an overall limit of ₹ 20,000 a week from November 9, 2016 till end of business on November 24, 2016. The limits will be reviewed after this.

All ATMs and other cash machines will remain shut on November 9, 2016 to facilitate recalibration. When ready, they will be reactivated and cash drawals from ATMs will be restricted to ₹ 2,000 per day per card up to November 18, 2016 and the limits shall be raised to ₹ 4000 per day per card from November 19, 2016.

Any person who is unable to exchange or deposit the specified banknotes in their bank accounts on or before December 30, 2016 shall be given an opportunity to do so at specified offices of the Reserve Bank or such other facility until a later date as may be specified by the Reserve Bank.

For more details members of the public may visit RBI website www.rbi.org.in and Government web site www.finmin.nic.in for further information and details.

Alpana Killawala
Principal Adviser

Press Release : 2016-2017/1142

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भारतीय  रज़व र्बक
RESERVE BANK OF INDIA

November 12, 2016

Withdrawal of Legal Tender Character of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000: RBI Statement

The withdrawal of the legal tender character of the then existing bank notes in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 cast a huge responsibility on the banking system to swiftly withdraw these specified bank notes in as smooth a manner as possible and in a non-disruptive way and provide in exchange notes of other denominations which are legal tender. It entailed swift withdrawal of the specified bank notes from the ATMs also within a few hours of the announcement, recalibrating these for issuance of other legal tender notes and reloading them in a matter of two days and providing the exchange facility for members of public at all bank branches all over the country, just after a day from the announcement.

To minimise the inconvenience to public the branches of banks and all RBI offices have been working well beyond normal business hours, with additional counters opened to cater to the huge turnout of public. On 10th Nov 2016, about 10 crore exchange transactions have been reported. Further, banks and RBI are kept open on Saturday and Sunday to meet the urgent requirements of public and to ease the situation. Keeping in mind the need for other denomination notes which are legal tender (including ` 2000), adequate stocks of these notes are kept ready in the Currency Chests located at more than 4,000 places across the country. Bank branches are linked to them to source their requirements from them. To sustain the demand, Printing Presses are printing the currency notes at full capacity so that adequate quantum of notes is available. While these efforts are afoot, public are encouraged to switch over to alternative modes of payment, such as pre-paid cards, Rupay/Credit/Debit cards, mobile banking, internet banking. All those for whom banking accounts under Jan Dhan Yojana are opened and cards are issued are urged to put them to use. Such usage will alleviate the pressure on the physical currency and also enhance the experience of living in the digital world. The scheme for exchange of the specified bank notes for other denominations is available all across the country till December 30, 2016 and even beyond, at specified RBI offices. As there is ample time, people need not rush to exchange putting avoidable strain on the banking branch network.

 Alpana Killawala
Press Release : 2016-2017/1190
Principal Adviser

RBI to issue ₹100 Banknotes with incorporation of ascending size of Numerals in the number panels, bleed lines and enlarged identification mark

As a part of its endeavor to continually improve design/security features of the banknotes and to deter counterfeiting activities, Reserve Bank of India recently introduced bank notes in ₹ 100, 500 and 1000 denominations with ascending size of numerals in number panels. This feature was already explained in the press releases Nos.(i) 2014-2015/2750 dated June 25, 2015, (ii) 2015-2016/343 dated August 7, 2015, (iii) 2015-2016/466 dated August 21, 2015, respectively when these notes were issued for the first time. Subsequently, banknotes in ₹ 500 and ₹ 1000 denominations having two more features (in addition to the ascending size of numerals) i.e. bleed lines, and enlarged size of identification mark have also been introduced, as detailed in our press release No.2015-2016/725 dated September 22, 2015.

Reserve Bank of India will now put into circulation ₹ 100 denomination banknotes incorporating all the aforesaid three new/ revised features, namely, ascending size of numerals in the number panels, bleed lines, and enlarged identification mark, in addition to the existing ones, in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005. The salient highlights of the features are-

Ascending size of numerals in numbering panels:
Numerals in both the number panels of these banknotes will be in ascending size from left to right, while the first three alpha-numeric characters will remain constant in size.

Bleed lines:
With a view to facilitating identification of denomination of the banknote by visually impaired persons, ₹ 100 banknotes will have a total of four angular bleed lines in two sets of 2-2 lines on the obverse on both the left and right -hand edge of the bank note.

Enlarged Identification Mark:
The existing identification mark (triangle) near the left edge of the banknote has been enlarged.

An illustration of ₹ 100 denomination banknote with these features is given below:

The instant notes will have the inset letter ‘E’ in the number panels. The notes will bear the signature of Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan, Governor. The year of printing (2015) appears on the reverse.

Needless to mention, ₹ 100 denomination banknotes with numerals in ascending size in number panels only (without bleed lines and enlarged identification mark) will remain in circulation concomitantly with the banknotes with all three features being issued now.

All the banknotes in this denomination issued hitherto by Reserve Bank of India will continue to be legal tender.

Ajit Prasad
Assistant Adviser

Press Release : 2015-2016/1733

RBI to issue ₹ 500 and ₹ 1000 Banknotes with Three Additional Features

22 Sept 2015

The Reserve Bank of India will shortly put into circulation banknotes in the denominations of ₹ 500 and ₹ 1000 incorporating three new/revised features - (i) ascending size of numerals in the number panels, (ii) bleed lines, and (iii) enlarged identification mark.

It may be recalled that the Reserve Bank recently put into circulation ₹ 500 and ₹ 1000 banknotes with numerals in ascending size in number panels but without bleed lines and enlarged identification mark. It has now added two more features to aid visually impaired in easy identification of banknotes part from securing them against counterfeiting.

The current banknotes will be without inset letter in the number panels. The notes will bear signature of Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan, Governor. The year of printing (2015) appears on the reverse. Except for these features, the overall design of ₹ 500 and ₹ 1000 banknotes have been retained.

All banknotes in these denominations issued hitherto by the Reserve Bank will continue to be legal tender.

Details of New Features:
(i) Ascending size of numerals in numbering panels:
Numerals in both the numbering panels of banknotes will be in ascending size from left to right, while the first three alpha-numeric characters will remain constant in size.

(ii) Bleed lines:
The banknotes of ₹ 500 denomination will have five angular bleed lines in three sets of 2-1-2 lines on the obverse in both, the upper left and the right hand edge of the banknote. Similarly, ₹ 1000 banknotes will have six angular bleed lines in four sets of 1-2-2-1 lines on the obverse in both, the upper left and right hand edge of the banknotes. These will facilitate identification of these notes by visually impaired persons.

(iii) Enlarged Identification Mark:
The existing identification mark (circular-shape in ₹ 500 and diamond in ₹ 1000) near the left edge of the banknote has been enlarged.

The Reserve Bank of India is committed to continually bring about modifications in the design of banknotes with changing times.

Alpana Killawala
Principal Chief General Manager

Press Release : 2015-2016/725