RBI to issue star series of currency notes

Mumbai, Apr 19 (UNI) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue a new star series of currency notes of various denominations for replacement of defectively printed notes during the printing stage.

In a communication to banks, RBI said, the adoption of star series would help in doing away with the practice of putting all new notes in a one packet in a serial number that sometimes causes difficulties in replacement of defective notes.

Currently, the defective notes during the printing process, are replaced by notes carrying the same number in order to maintain the sequences in the new banknotes packet.

This is a part of RBI's efforts to benchmark its procedures against international best practices as also for greater efficiency and cost effectiveness.

The star packet will contain one hundred notes though not in serial order. It will have a additional character like a symbol of star in the number panel and will be similar in every other respect to a normal bank note and would be legal tender.

To begin with, RBI said, star series noteis would be issued in lower denominations such as RS 10, Rs 20 and Rs 50 in the Mahatma Gandhi series.

RBI has asked banks to get ready and keep their branches informed so as to guide their customers.

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