The Reserve Bank of India has extended the date for exchanging the pre-2005 banknotes to January 01, 2015. The central bank has asked banks to facilitate the exchange of these notes for full value and without causing any inconvenience to the public.

The RBI clarified that the public can continue to freely use the pre-2005 notes for any transaction and can unhesitatingly receive these notes in payment. The RBI had earlier said that it would withdraw pre-2005 notes from April 1, 2014.

A majority of such pre-2005 notes have already been withdrawn through the banks and only a limited number of notes remain with the public, the central bank said in a statement.