CHENNAI: There has been confusion prevailing over whether the new denomination currencies which have been scribbled upon can be accepted as legal tender as many banks were supposedly following an advisory from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that said new notes with pen markings will not be accepted.
An RBI spokeswoman denied there was any such advisory to not accept denomination notes that have been scribbled upon.
“The Reserve Bank of India reiterates that all currency notes issued by it are legal tender and banks and members can freely and without fear accept them in exchange for goods and services,” she said.
She did, however, add that the RBI does advocate the clean note policy.
“The Reserve Bank in pursuance of its ‘clean note policy’, keeps requesting banks and members of public not to write on the currency notes as writing defaces them and reduces their life,” she said.
Despite this, an official with an auto-finance group said that a private bank (ICICI) refused to accept three Rs 500 denomination notes as they had pen markings. When Express asked a State Bank of India official, he said that they are enforcing the RBI’s clean note policy circular and are not taking any notes that have been scribbled on.