Fact Check: Does scribbling on bank notes make it invalid?

New Delhi, Jan 09: Does writing anything on the bank note makes it invalid? This is a message that has been in circulation on the social media and WhatsApp groups.

The message says, 'VV important. As per the new guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India, writing any thing on the new notes makes the note invalid and it will no more be legal tender. Just like the US dollars, if you write anything on the US dollar, it is not accepted by any one. Just forward this to maximum people so that the Indian public will know the importance of this' the message reads.

PIB Fact Check took to Twitter to call out this message as fake. It said, 'does writing anything on the bank note make it invalid? No, Bank notes with scribblings are not invalid and continue to be legal tender. Under the clean note policy, people are requested not to write on the currency notes as it defaces them and reduces their life.'

What the RBI rules say:

According to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Clean Note Policy, users are requested not to write anything on a currency note as it reduces its life.

Reserve Bank of India, exhorted the banks to implement the Reserve Bank's instructions issued from November 2001 to do away with stapling of note packets and to introduce banding the packets with paper/polythene bands so that the life of the currency notes is increased. The Deputy Governor took a meeting of Chief Executives of public sector banks and other banks having currency chests in Delhi today to discuss matters connected with implementing the Reserve Bank of India's Clean Note Policy. The objective of the Reserve Bank's Clean Note Policy is to give the citizens good quality currency notes and coins while the soiled notes are withdrawn out of circulation. The Reserve Bank has also instructed the banks to issue only good quality clean notes to the public and refrain from recycling the soiled notes received by them over their counters. The Reserve Bank has installed high speed Currency Verification and Processing Systems (CVPS) machines at all its offices which deal with currency. These machines are capable of processing 50,000-60,000 pieces per hour and soiled notes are shredded and briquetted on-line, the RBI's website said.

Ever since 1999, when the Governor announced the Clean Note Policy, several steps were taken for augmenting the supply of currency notes and coins. The members of public were urged not to write on the currency notes and banks were instructed to provide unrestricted facility for exchange of soiled and mutilated notes. As per the Reserve Bank instructions, currency chest branches of the banks must offer, even to non-customers, good quality notes and coins in exchange for soiled and mutilated notes. Complaints, however, continue to be received in this regard from the public and trade bodies that these instructions have not been given full effect, the RBI also said.