KARACHI:The government has extended the last date for encashment, conversion or redemption of withdrawn National Prize Bonds of Rs 40,000, Rs 25,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 7,500 denomination up to June 30, 2024.
The prize bonds can be redeemed from the SBP Banking Services Corporation office and branches of commercial banks across the country till the extended deadline.
The State Bank of Pakistan, accordingly, advised all participating commercial banks to accept requests for encashment, conversion or redemption of the withdrawn bonds by general public till the extended date.
Currency Management Department of Banking Services Corporation of SBP, in its circular issued to the banks, stated that Finance Division had extended the last date for encashment, replacement or conversion of Rs 40,000, Rs 25,000,
Rs 15,000 and Rs 7,500 denomination National Prize Bonds (bearer) up to June 30, 2024.
Previously. the last date for encashment, conversion and redemption of captioned denominations of National Prize Bonds (NPBs) was fixed as June 30, 2023.
The decision of extending the deadline has been taken after considering the fact that some of the prize bond holders could not get their bonds redeemed by the earlier deadline of June 30, 2023.
The circular further asked heads of participating banks to disseminate the instructions to all their branches so that people holding the withdrawn prize bonds could avail the facility that is expected to provide relief to a large number of investors who were unable to encash their prize bonds before the earlier deadline.
“Further, the banks shall submit branch or region wise consolidated data of cited denomination NPBs held by them on the last date latest by July 2, 2024 as per stipulated instructions,” it read adding that all commercial banks shall surrender the cited prize bonds latest by July 31, 2024.
According to the policy, holders of the withdrawn prize bonds have three options for encashment or exchange: they can either encash the bonds at face value, convert them to premium prize bonds of Rs25,000 and/or Rs40,000 (registered), or replace them with Special Savings Certificates (SSC) or Defense Savings Certificates (DSC).
It is pertinent to note that these prize bonds shall not be encashable or exchangeable after the expiry of the extended deadline, making them worthless. Therefore, the general public is encouraged to avail this final opportunity and get their holdings redeemed before the deadline.