Two Different Types Of Rs 500 Notes Are In The Market. Here’s What RBI Has To Say

The government of India has demonetized old currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 in order to combat the problems of black money, fake currency, etc. However, the new Rs. 500 notes issued by RBI have different variants which are creating chaos and confusion among common public.


Around three cases have been found by TOI in which the new notes are not matching with one another. A Delhite told,


“There is a more than visible shadow of Gandhi’s face, besides alignment issues with the national emblem on the note and even serial numbers.”

Errors Explained!

(a) The “R” of Reserve Bank Of India looks very bold on the top image, while on the bottom one, the print is normal.
(b) The first note displays a more than visible shadow of Gandhi’s face, which is once again a printing error.
(c)Have a look at the Ashoka Pillar. On the top one, it doesn’t fit well in the grey space.
(d)Drastic difference in the placement of black dotted lines on both the notes.
(e)Difference in the font size of serial numbers. 8AB on the top note, looks bigger than 1AB on the bottom one
(f)Alignment and design differences on the border of the notes.
In another case, a person from Gurugram named Rehan Shah said that the notes have borders of different size, while a person from Mumbai received Rs. 2,000 notes of different colors as one of them had a lighter shade.
This is what Alpana Killawala, the RBI spokesperson, said in this connection,
“It is likely that notes with printing defect have got released due to the current rush. However, people can freely accept such a note in transaction or return it to RBI.”

 TOI was told this by GK Pillai, Former Home Secretary:
“Prevention of counterfeiting is almost impossible, with official mechanisms in Pakistan printing notes with access to as much sophistication as we do. So, it is only a matter of delay and temporary suspension of such notes in the country that one could have hoped for. I cannot yet comment on the Rs 500 notes as I am yet to see them, the Rs 2,000 notes are of good sophistication. That said, if the RBI says there is only one new 500-note it is printing, there should exist only one.”
Experts are also of the opinion that if there will be notes of different variants, it will be easy to introduce fake currency. An IPS shared his opinion on the matter,
“As it is people find it difficult to understand all features of an official note and fail to check for everything before they accept one. Now, if there are too many versions of the official note, slipping in another would be easier than otherwise.”
ST Ramesh, Former DG&IG, Karnataka, also supports the experts and believes that multiple variants of notes will help those who want to introduce fake currency notes,
“Local printing of such notes has almost stopped. The notorious gangs from Coimbatore are more or less dead and all notes come in from outside through Nepal, Bangladesh and other countries. Different variants of official currency will certainly aid counterfeiting and it must be curbed immediately, unless of course, the RBI has strategically released this.”

What the former director of RBI says?

Former Director of RBI, Vipin Malik says it is strange to see such errors on the notes. According to him, RBI has state-of-the-art machinery for printing and if any faults are detected, the machine immediately throws out the paper and doesn’t allow further printing. Moreover, at the 2nd level, prescribed officers are appointed to physically examine the notes. Mr. Malik feels this is nothing but sheer ignorance.
We hope that the RBI takes prompt action and the problem of notes of different variants should be taken care properly. RBI has the most silly excuse for this printing mistake. Is it justified?
Do share your views with regard to this in the comments section below.

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