2016 Indian banknote demonetisation
On 8
November 2016, the Government of India announced the demonetisation of all ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series. It also announced the issuance of new ₹500 and ₹2,000 banknotes in exchange for the demonetised banknotes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that the action would curtail the shadow economy, increase cashless transactions and reduce the use of illicit and counterfeit cash to fund illegal activity and terrorism.
Queues outside a bank to exchange demonetised banknotes in Kolkata on 10 November 2016
People gathered at an ATM of Axis Bank on 16 November 2016 in Mehsana, Gujarat to withdraw cash following deposit of demonetised banknotes in bank.
A jewellery store in a shopping mall with a notice "We accept ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes", even after they were no longer valid banknotes.
Cashless ATM as on 1 December
Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in payment of a debt extinguishes the debt. There is no obligation on the creditor to accept the tendered payment, but the act of tendering the payment in legal tender discharges the debt.
Detail of the obverse of a Series 1950 United States ten-dollar bill, showing the phrase "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private, and is redeemable in lawful money at the United States Treasury, or at any Federal Reserve Bank." This phrase was subsequently shortened in later issues to "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private."
Indian rupees were stamped with Government of Pakistan to be used as legal tenders in the new state of Pakistan in 1947.
