KARACHI: The old design banknotes will cease to be legal tender with effect from December 1st, 2016. Therefore, it has now been decided to phase out all remaining old design banknotes of Rs 10, 50, 100 and 1,000. The Rs 5 banknote and the old design Rs 500 banknote have already been demonetised. An official of the State Bank of Pakistan said commercial/microfinance banks would accept the old design banknotes of Rs 10, 50, 100 and 1,000 and exchange the same with the new design banknotes and coins of all denominations up to November 30, 2016 only. However, SBP BSC field offices will continue to accept the old design banknotes of Rs 10, 50, 100 and 1,000 from the general public up to December 31, 2021. The State Bank issued a new design banknote series, which started with the issuance of a Rs 20 denomination banknote in 2005 to improve the security, durability and aesthetic quality of banknotes. The process of issuance of a complete series of new design banknotes comprising eight denominations (Rs 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1,000 and 5,000) was completed in 2008.