Owning Rs 500, Rs 1,000 old notes illegal; President promulgates Ordinance criminalising ownership of such note

New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday promulgated the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance, 2016, which criminalises holding of Rs 5,00 and Rs 1,000 notes, and makes holding, transferring and receiving of these specified bank notes illegal and punishable with imposition of penalty.

The Ordinance, however allows non-resident Indians to exchange or deposit banned currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 at specified RBI offices till June 30.

The government had demonetised the high denomination notes of Rs 5,00 and Rs 1,000 on November 8.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), also on Friday notified the closure of the deposit and exchange of the old notes and has asked all the banks to report collections of demonetised Rs 5,00 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on December 30 itself. From next week onward, those still holding the scrapped currency can deposit it only with the RBI till March 31, 2017.

As per these Regulations bringing back such currency into the country is restricted to Rs 25,000 per person. Separate FEMA provisions are applicable to persons in Nepal and Bhutan which would continue to apply. At the time of return to India the number and denominations of the SBN will need to be declared to the Customs authorities at the airports and other entry points.

With agencies' inputs