New Delhi, Nov 8 : President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday welcomed the "bold step taken" by the Union government to declare currency in Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination illegal and urged the people not to panic.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on Mukherjee and briefed him on the government decision.

"President Mukherjee welcomes the bold step taken by the government, which will help unearth unaccounted money as well as counterfeit currency. He calls upon the people not to panic and to follow the government's guidelines for exchanging currency notes of Rs 1,000/500 denomination available with them," a Rashtrapati Bhavan release said.