TIRUCHY: Rs 10 coins are perfect legal tender, you have been assured for the nth time by the Reserve Bank of India. But many people don’t seem to get it. Here’s proof:
A Tiruchy-based dairy firm claims to be sitting on as much as Rs 34 lakh in coins, most of them of Rs 10, accepted from customers.
But a private bank isn’t keen on accepting them as deposit. The ruse: space constraint in the currency chest.
According to representatives of Vijay Dairies, since demonetisation, Axis Bank in Manachanallur refused to collect the coins they received from domestic consumers and buyers at their 400-plus sales outlets.
“Since December 2016, our banker, Axis Bank, has been shying away from collecting our deposits as coins.
They are not refusing to collect our deposits but insisting us to come after a while for depositing the coins by citing lack of space in their chest. Due to the assurance, we kept accumulating coins and over the months we amassed Rs 3.4 lakh of Rs 10 coins,” S Somasundaram, CEO, Vijay Dairies, said. “These coins have become redundant.”
As the routine operations of the dairy unit functioning at Peramangalam village in Thuraiyur taluk was hit, the private milk producers approached the Madurai bench of Madras High Court recently.
Apparently, the High Court in its interim order has directed the bank to collect the deposit in coins from the unit. Following the legal directives, Vijay Dairies’ representatives claimed that the bank on April 28 collected Rs 1 lakh, and were assured the bank would collect more once it has adequate space for the rest.