The Reserve Bank had, in June 2015, set the last date for public to exchange pre-2005 banknotes notes as December 31, 2015. RBI decided to extend the date for the public to exchange their pre-2005 banknotes till June 30, 2016. However, RBI added that from January 1, 2016, such facility will only be available at identified bank branches and Issue Offices of the Reserve Bank.

Soliciting cooperation from members of public in withdrawing these bank notes from circulation, RBI has urged them to exchange pre-2005 bank notes at the identified bank branches or Issues Offices of the Reserve Bank, convenient to them.

Over 164 crore pre-2005 currency notes of various denominations, including of Rs 1,000 were shredded in regional offices of Reserve Bank in 13-month period ending January, as per official data. The face value of the shredded currency notes was around Rs 21,750 crore. As many as 86.87 crore pieces of Rs 100, 56.19 crore pieces of Rs 500 and 21.75 crore pieces of Rs 1,000 were shredded.

How to identify Pre-2005 Notes?

• 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.