Govt to amend RBI Act to extinguish old Rs 500, Rs1000 notes

New Delhi: In order to extinguish the validity of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, the government is likely to bring amendments to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act in the forthcoming Budget.

The law to make Rs 500/1000 notes invalid can be made effective from March 31, sources said.

" In 1978, when the currency was banned, the law to annul the validity came ahead. This time the government acted under 26 (2)," sources said.

As per RBI Act Section 26 (2), the central government, on the recommendation of the Central Board of RBI, may by notification in the Gazette of India, declare that, with effect from such date as may be specified in the notification, any series of bank notes of any denomination shall cease to be legal tender.

With PTI Inputs