India will withdraw all currency notes issued prior to 2005, including the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination bills, starting March 31.

The step announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is aimed at curbing black money and fake currencies in the country, reports said .

The public will be required to approach banks for exchanging these notes from April 1, the bank said.

The size of India’s black economy is estimated to be about a third of its GDP. If hidden income of $500 billion were to be disclosed and taxed at 33 per cent, it would generate Rs 10 lakh crore, enough to fund the food programme in the country for a few years, the Hindustan Times report said.

The public can easily identify the notes to be withdrawn as the notes issued before 2005 do not have the year of printing on the reverse side. All notes that do not display year of printing on the reverse side are to be exchanged, said the bank.