New Delhi: The 1,000-denomination banknotes printed without security thread are defective, but genuine, Parliament was informed today. The thread running vertically on a currency note in India is the first thing that people look at to determine whether the note is genuine or otherwise.
The issuance of all such banknotes of the defective series has now been stopped from circulation, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said today in the Rajya Sabha.
One of the RBI's regional offices had reported on December 11, 2015, that it had received some banknotes of 1,000 denomination of some particular series without any security thread, he said.
"Other essential features were present in the banknotes in question. The defective notes found to be in circulation amounted to Rs 7.56 lakh only. All the bank branches/currency chests and RBI offices were immediately instructed to stop issuing all banknotes of 1,000 denomination belonging to the defective series," Sinha informed the Upper House.
The government has issued instructions to deal with such cases, he further said in a written reply to the House. The incident occurred at the Hosangabad unit of the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL).
Sinha said all the bank branches, currency chests and RBI offices are also advised to do detailed verification of these notes in stock. Instructions were issued to all the regional offices of RBI concerned regarding detailed verification of stocks of notes as indicated by SPMCIL, he said.
"However, subsequently it was decided to remit back these notes to SPMCIL for thorough verification and resupply only those which are found to be fit for circulation", Sinha said further.
(With PTI inputs)
