Banks not accepting pre-2005 Rs 1,000 notes

The queues outside the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are getting longer as banks are not accepting the old Rs 1,000 notes printed before 2005.

Manish Mathur's eight pre-2005 Rs 1,000 notes were rejected by the Indian Bank at Sector 19 in Noida, near Delhi.

"The bank refused to accept the notes with silver colour security thread," Mathur told IANS. "The bank said these notes were printed before 2005 and they can't take them. They asked me to go to RBI."

Mathur, like others facing the same problem, wondered how these notes were legal tender before Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetised all 500 and 1,000 rupee notes on November 8.

Arjun Sharma, a businessman in east Delhi, told IANS that his 25 pre-2005 Rs 1,000 notes were returned by the State Bank of India at Krishna Nagar in east Delhi on Wednesday.

"This is nothing but harassment," Sharma said. "These banks make a new rule every day."

Bank officials refused to comment on the issue, saying they were simply following RBI guidelines.

--IANS

aks/mr