Farmers from Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district were in for a surprise when they were issued newly printed Rs 2000 notes without the image of Mahatma Gandhi from a State Bank of India branch.
After finding the mistake, the farmers approached the concerned branch where the notes were taken back but the farmers were told that the notes were 'genuine'.
The image of Mahatma Gandhi was missing from the notes because of a "printing error", the farmers were told, according to a report in Times of India.
The report also quoted banking and police sources that many defective yet genuine notes are in circulation.
This series of 'faulty' notes, sources told TOI, were printed at Bank Note Press in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh.
Krishna Meena from Bicchugavdi village didn't even notice something was amiss when he received a Rs 2000 rupee note from the SBI branch on Tuesday.
It was only when he went to market that he was alerted by another farmer who had two similar notes. Both teamed up and went back to the SBI branch, which promptly took back the "faulty" notes.
"The incident took place at Shivpuri Road branch of SBI. The notes were not counterfeit, but probably there was some printing error. They were taken back as soon as it (the error) was detected," Sheopur district manager of SBI, Akash Shrivastav told the daily.
Currency notes with Mahatma Gandhi's picture were printed and issued by RBI from 1996 onwards. Since then, the 'Gandhi Series' of bank notes replaced all previous currency as legal tender.
