Never have I looked at the Notes so closely till the
recent RBI notice…. after 31 March 2014 use of all pre 2005 rupee notes to be
discontinued! The pre 2005 notes do not have the year of issue printed on them.
In one of the Bank visits, I saw a young smartly
dressed young woman carrying an attractive backpack…she emptied the notes in
the backpack for exchanging at the counter…woman power! The man behind the counter efficiently
counted the money using the currency counter machine….and handed over a new set
of ‘karare’ crisp notes to the young woman….I was impressed by the precision of
work.
With the buzz around to ‘look at your notes closely’
…’time to get these replaced’…one of my septuagenarian aunt shared that agenda
for the day for her was to look into her ‘potli’ to closely look at her
notes…wonder how many she had saved cautiously, away from the prying eyes of
her sons!
A friend shared that though the notes cannot be
refused for any transactions till March 31, yet some shops are politely
refusing to accept these. So she decided to deliberately use off the pre 2005
notes in all her winter sale shopping as she wanted to avoid the hassle of
exchanging these in the bank…she was happy that in one of such sales she was able
to use 10 such Rs 1000 notes…however the change she got back was also pre 2005!
Now she too could not refuse to accept these..could she?
At the café as I sat leisurely enjoying the hot
coffee, I overheard an interesting conversation at the table behind me. A group
of middle aged men dealing in real estate, discussed their business …most
things went over my head but precisely that’s why my interest aroused in their
conversation. And then I heard another issue about the “NOTES” - the agents
these days are charging 3% more from the clients who want to pay (their crores)
in pre 2005 notes…after all exchanging the notes in such huge quantity is not
easy and they have to make ‘arrangements’ with the bank!
Now that 31 March is round the corner what happens?
Till July 1 any bank will exchange our pre 2005 notes free of charge whether or
not we have a bank account with them. After July 1, we will have to give proof
of our identity and residence to the bank in case we are swapping more than 10
notes of Rs 500 or Rs 1000. All this is as per the guidelines on paper.
Practically…. we require a good relationship with the Bank to execute the
exchange!
Though one of the important reasons for RBI to take
this decision of removing pre2005 notes from circulation is to check the
percolation of fake money…. the RBI directions the banks is that they have to
accept the fake notes over the counter from the customer!….with this free
exchange happening at the Bank it seems a good way to get the fake money
replaced if you have one…isn’t it!
The RBI’s direction
to the banks is to monitor any patterns of fake note detection and inform the
central bank and the police immediately. The banks will get 25% of the
amount of the fake note from RBI…seems strange…at one instance they have to accept
all notes from the customer and on the other hand they will have to bear 75%
loss on the fake notes they accept?! So why would any Bank accept ‘Fake’ notes?
And then what rights can a customer have if he/she has unknowingly owned a fake
note?...much better learn to distinguish the fake from the real….follow some
tips below
Look
Closely for the “real” notes…!
Security
thread- A real currency note will have a security thread running vertically.
This thread has ‘bharat’ and ‘RBI’ inscribed on it…hold the note against the
light…it surely is visible :)... The thread also changes colour when viewed
from a different angle. Under the ultraviolet light the security thread
fluoresces in yellow on both sides….:(
Micro
lettering: The real note has “RBI’ and
the denomination inscribed in the area behind Gandhiji’s ear..:)
Watermark:
On the right side of a note the portrait of Gandhij is clearly visible. However
when we hold the note against the light, another hidden portrait of Gandhiji
and the denomination of the note will too get revealed on the left side of the
note!...wow..it surely does :)
Intaglio
Printing: The portrait of Gandhiji, The Reserve Bank seal on top and the value
of denomination written in Hindi are printed in intaglio or raised ink which
can be felt by touch in notes of denominations Rs 20 and above….:(
Optically variable ink: This makes the colour of the numeral
appear green when the banknote is held flat but blue when the banknote is held
at an angle…hmmm :/.
As I finished writing this note…another news came
by…we will also need to be on a lookout for the Governor’s signature on the
note…if the signature is of the former governor Duvvuri Subbarao instead of the
present governor Dr Raghuram Govinda Rajan and the year on the note is 2014…get
it changed! RBI
goof up.. Duvvuri Subbarao retired last year! ……AND….the
deadline for exchange of notes has been extended till January 2015…whew!
