How to identify Pre 2005 Indian Currency notes

Recently RBI ( Reserve Bank of India ) announced withdrawal of all currency notes which are in circulation, printed prior to 2005.

Update ( 30th June, 2016 ) :: Exchange of Pre-2005 Banknotes at Select Offices of RBI from July 01, 2016, 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.

As you are aware, RBI has been following a policy of phasing out of certain series of banknotes from time to time. It has now been decided that all old series of banknotes issued prior to 2005 will be completely withdrawn from circulation.

Accordingly, the following plan of action has been formulated:

(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 an ongoing basis.

(iii) These notes will continue to be legal tender.

(iv) From July 01, 2014, to exchange more than 10 pieces of ` 500 and ` 1000 notes, bank branches should obtain from non-customers, proof of their identity and residence.

What this notification means ?

1. Which Denominations withdrawn ?
All Currency notes Printed prior to 2005 by RBI, i.e. Currency Notes of Rs. 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000.

2. How to Identify Pre 2005 Currency Notes ?
Currently the Reserve Bank of India prints currency notes in the denomination of Rs. 5, Rs. 10, Rs. 20, Rs. 50, Rs. 100, Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000. All the notes printed before the year 2005 do not have the year of printing marked on it. All currency notes printed post 2005 have is year of printing clearly printed in the middle of the bottom row on the backside of the note. If your bank-note has no year of printing on the back, it means the note is printed before 2005 and needs to be exchanged with the bank as per the RBI deadline. All notes with the year of printing indicated on the currency note would stay in operation as all of them are posted after 2005. The gallery below shows you an Example of both Notes :

Old 1000 Rs. Note need to be exchange

1000 Rs. note printed after 2005 with year

Old 500 Rs. Note need to be exchange

500 Rs. note printed after 2005 with year

Old 100 Rs. Note need to be exchange

100 Rs. note printed after 2005 with year

3. How to Exchange Old Currency Notes ?
So now that you have identified your currency notes and shortlisted the ones that need to be changed, a simple exchange procedure is revealed by the press release of the Reserve Bank of India. First things first, there should be no reason to panic whatsoever as the RBI has clearly stated that all old notes would continue to be legal and can be exchanged at any bank even after April 1, 2014.

All Public Sector Bank, Private banks and Co – Operative banks, have been asked to dedicate exchange counter where people can exchange their old currency notes.

Procedure ::
If you are account holder of bank or not, you can exchange the specific notes from all bank / branches on specific counters dedicated for same from 1st April to 30th June. After 1st July, you need to provide your ID proof for large denominations ( 1000 Rs and 500 Rs notes ).

Timelines ::
Up to 30th June, 2014 :: No Paper work or account required in bank, you can simply go to bank, give them old notes and take new one. All exchanges done before 30th June would be unconditional.

From 1st July, 2014 :: For any exchange of more than ten pieces of old Rs 500 or Rs 1000 notes after 1st July, 2014 would require identity proof and address to be shared with the bank if you are a non customer of that bank. If you are a customer to the bank, you can exchange by mentioning your account details or deposit in your bank account.

RBI Yet not declared these currency notes END of Life date. So old notes would continue to be legal till further notification will be released for END of Life for old notes.

Keep visiting this page for further update on same and Don’t PANIC, simply exchange your old notes from Banks.

* I request all people not to Write any thing on Currency Notes.