Taking the nation by surprise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 announced demonetisation of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes, making these notes invalid in a major assault on black money, fake currency and corruption. In his first televised address to the nation, Modi said people holding notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 can deposit the same in their bank and post office accounts from November 10 till December 30.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

In his 40-minute address, first in Hindi and later in English, the Prime Minister said the notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 "will not be legal tender from midnight tonight" and these will be "just worthless piece of paper." However, he said that all notes in lower denomination of Rs 100, Rs 50, Rs 20, Rs 10, Rs 5, Rs 2 and Re 1 and all coins will continue to be valid. He also announced that new notes of Rs 2000 and Rs 500 will be introduced.

Here are the important features of the new note: 

The new Rs 500 notes are different from the present series in colour, size, theme, location of security features and design elements. The size of the new note is 63mm X 150mm. The colour of the notes is stone grey and predominant new theme is Indian heritage site - Red Fort.

Obverse:

# See through register in denomination numerical.# Latent image of the denomination numerical# Denomination numerical in Devnagari.# Orientation and relative position of Mahatma Gandhi potrait changed.# Windowed security thread changes colour from green to blue when note is lifted.# Potrait and electrotype watermarks.# Guarantee clause: Governor's signature with Promise clause and RBI emblem shifted towards right# Number panel with numericals growing from small to big on the top left side and bottom right side.# Denomination in numericals with Rupee symbol in colour changing ink (green to blue) on bottom right# Ashoka pillar emblem on the right

Reverse:

# Year of printing of the note on left# Swacch Bharat logo with slogan# Language panel towards centre# Red Fort - an image of Indian heritage site with Indian flag# Denominaoon numeral in Devanagari on right

For visually impaired:

Intaglio or raised printing of Mahatma Gandhi potrait, Ashoka pillar emblem, bleed lines and identity marks to continue.

# Circle with Rs 500 raised print on right # 5 raised lines on left and right in raised print

(Source: RBI)