BENGALURU: Confusion prevailed outside the regional office of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Nrupathunga Road here on Monday over the exchange of old denomination currency notes. There were about 20 residents of the city and some NRIs who had come to the RBI office in the morning to exchange the old notes, thinking that the notes can be exchanged at the office till the new grace period of March 31.
However, they were sent away by the RBI officials, who cited an RBI circular dated December 31. According to the circular, the exchanges could be made in only five centres across the country - the nearest ones being in Chennai and Mumbai. On an average, the people had Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000.
A woman had come all the way from Lingarajpuram to exchange her old notes since December 30 and 31 were Saturday and Sunday, when the RBI office was closed. She was told that the deadline was over and this was when an argument started. “I travelled a long distance to get my notes exchanged. This is not fair. The RBI should make other arrangements to exchange the demonetised notes,” she said.
One of the people waiting outside the RBI office said, “We came thinking that the old notes could be exchanged here as it is the regional office of the RBI. However, officials told us that the facility was not available at the Bengaluru office.”
Fearing the commotion would aggravate, RBI officials quickly summoned the local police to prevent any untoward incident. Following the chaos, entry into the RBI office was restricted. Notices were put up at the gates of the office, stating that old notes could not be exchanged at the centre.
What the notice stated
As per a recent circular, ‘Facility for exchange of Specified Bank Notes (SBNs) during the Grace Period’ and exchange of old notes can be made in only five RBI offices at Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Nagpur, till March 31.
The facility is for resident and non-resident citizens ‘who could not avail the facility from November 10 to December 30, 2016 on account of their absence from India’. For Indians who were abroad between November 9 and December 30, there was no limit for submission of old notes.
However, for NRIs, the limit was Rs 25,000 per person.
Officials in the RBI regional office were not available for comment regarding the incident.