BENGALURU: It has only been a few days since Reserve Bank of India released the new Rs 500 note and several errors have already come to light.Many who received the new notes have noticed colour variation, elements in the note placed differently, over-inked letters and unequal-sized notes.
In fact, the image of Mahatma Gandhi appears to have a shadow and seems out of place on some notes. Sources in RBI said the printing mistake is due to the rush and urgency.
A senior bank official from Bengaluru said RBI officials have made it clear that people can get these notes exchanged with the RBI or accept them during transactions without any reason for panic.
Experts said two variants of notes can make counterfeiting easier and has to be curtailed as soon as possible. Images of the two variants of Rs 500 were seen trending on social networking sites.
Meanwhile, the circulation of the new Rs 500 note remains limited and citizens are still struggling to get change for the Rs 2,000 notes.
A Canara Bank official said, “We received a very limited number of new Rs 500 notes on Friday and Saturday. We are hoping that by Monday, there will be enough number of Rs 500 notes and the situation will normalise then.”
In fact, in the last few days people have stopped rushing to ATMs as most of them withdrew money from the bank. But since many of them got the new Rs 2,000 note, it proved tough to get change.
Radhika Avasthi, a resident of Koramangala, said, “I will hit the ATMs only when I am sure that Rs 500 notes are available in abundance. It is better to swipe the card now as countering change has been the major issue.”