You won't be able to hold old Rs 500, Rs 1000 notes as souvenirs if Modi Govt has its way

Modi Government is planning to prepare an ordinance to impose penalties on anyone possessing old notes beyond December 30, 2016, PTI reported on Tuesday.  

In a surprise move to curb black money, corruption and terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 announced scrapping of old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 as legal tender from circulation.

According to PTI report, there was no official word on the move which is likely to come up before the Cabinet on Wednesday but sources said penalties may be imposed on anyone holding more than 10 notes each of the old currency after December 30. 

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The news agency citing reports said that there could be a cap of holding no more than 10 notes of each after December 30 and violation of the rule could draw a fine of a minimum of Rs 50,000 or five times the amount in question -- whichever is higher, but there was no confirmation. 

Holders of such currency have an option to deposit them in Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by March 31 but even that period may be curtailed, they said. 

The government had while announcing the demonetisation of the old currency allowed holders to either exchange them or deposit in bank and post office accounts, cited the report.

While the facility to exchange the old notes has since been withdrawn, depositors have time till Friday to deposit the holding in their accounts, it added. 

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