Got a currency note with a scribble? No bank can refuse it, says RBI
MUMBAI: In a world of fake news and viral WhatsApp messages, you just may believe the rumour that currency notes that have something scribbled across them are no longer legal tender. Your heart may sink when the ATM spits out yet another note with a doodle drawn on it, if not “Sonam Gupta bewafa hai” (Sonam Gupta is unfaithful) written on it.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified now that currency notes with scribbles continue to be legal tender. “There is no RBI instruction to anyone not to accept any currency notes with scribbling on it even though we do, from time to time, keep appealing to people not to write/staple/fold currency notes as these things lessen the life of currency notes,” the central bank said in an email to Mint.
This should put at rest the rumour that scribbled notes will not be accepted by banks or for general use.
This is not the first time that such a rumour has surfaced. Prior to this, in 2014, the RBI had to issue a circular asking people not to fall prey to rumours and to continue to use their scribbled banknotes.
Banks, including State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd and Axis Bank Ltd, did not respond to a query on whether they are accepting notes with writing on them.
RBI, from time to time, asks banks to follow the clean note policy. The central bank introduced the policy in 1999. People were urged not to write on currency notes and banks were instructed to provide unrestricted facility for exchange of soiled and mutilated notes.
Again, in 2002, the apex bank issued a circular asking banks to do away with stapling of note bundles and to introduce banding so that the life of the currency notes is increased.
In July 2016, the RBI stated in a master circular that in keeping with the objectives of its clean note policy it had formulated a scheme of penalties for bank branches, including currency chests, to ensure that all bank branches provide better customer service to the public on exchange of notes and coins.
According to the RBI circular, if any bank branch refuses to exchange soiled notes from any member of the public, the bank has to pay a penalty of ₹10,000.