Seizure of counterfeit currency notes was on the rise in the country; a trend being countered strongly by a public awareness campaign by the apex bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said S. Nanda Kumar, Assistant Manager, Issue Department, RBI.
Addressing a currency literacy seminar organised here on Thursday by the RBI and Canara Bank, the Lead Bank for Madurai district, he said that the RBI was adopting a two-pronged approach to counter this menace — creating awareness among the public and strengthening the safety features in rupee notes to make it hard to counterfeit.
Quoting reports from the RBI’s annual reports, he said that the value of fake notes seized in the country had gone up from Rs. 5.5 crore in 2008 to Rs. 15 crore in 2009. The year 2010 was, so far, recording a similar trend.
The currency literacy programme was targeted at Currency Chest officers and select bank branches that had huge cash accumulation.
Hostile countries bordering India were dumping fake notes, especially of higher denominations such as Rs.500 and Rs.1,000. As part of its platinum jubilee celebrations, the RBI was organising outreach programmes at select model villages in the country.
Note exchange
Mr. Kumar said that new notes governing the exchange/adjudication of soiled and mutilated notes — the Revised RBI (Note Refund) Rules 2009 — came into effect on August 4, 2009. Explaining its salient features, he said that the new rules laid emphasis on the area of the note unlike the earlier norms that stressed on the serial number.
Explaining the two categories of ‘soiled’ and ‘mutilated’ notes, he said that rupee notes with a single cut fell under the former and the rest under the latter. He also explained how the area of a damaged note should be measured and how to adjudicate whether to grant full value, half or reject it.
K.P. Pai, Assistant General Manager of Madurai circle, Canara Bank, KN. Subramanian, Lead District Manager, G.T. Sambandan, Senior Manager and in-charge, Canara Bank Staff Training College, took part.
