Old design: Rs500 banknote will cease to be legal tender

Govt declares that old-design banknote of Rs500 will cease to be legal tender with effect from October 1, 2011.

The government has declared that the old-design banknote of Rs500, which was introduced in April 1986, will cease to be legal tender with effect from October 1, 2011 and hence cannot be exchangeable from this date, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

Accordingly, the SBP asked people to exchange the old-design banknote of Rs500 from field offices of the SBP Banking Services Corporation and branches of all commercial banks throughout the country up to September 30.

The SBP recalled that it has already completed issuance of new-design banknote series of all denominations (including Rs500), which started with the launching of Rs20 banknote in 2005, to improve security features, durability and aesthetic quality of the currency.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2010.