After Madhya Pradesh, ‘defective’ ₹2,000 notes now surface near Bengaluru

An Anekal man got half-printed ₹2,000 rupee notes from a State Bank of Mysore branch. The bank initially refused to take back the notes but relented after media coverage. The RBI had previously been criticised for poor quality printing of ₹2,000 and ₹500 notes.

Two days after some farmers in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district received ₹2,000 notes, a resident of Anekal — a taluk in Bengaluru Urban district — was in for a shock on January 5 after he received half-printed ₹2,000 notes from a bank.

Balu had received the defective notes when he went to the State Bank of Mysore (SBM) branch at Anekal. When he attempted to return the notes, the SBM officials were evasive and asked him to go to the Reserve Bank of India, which had originally supplied the notes.

Balu invited mediapersons and showed them the currency notes. Bank officials relented and provided proper notes to Balu after they were approached by TV channels.

On January 3, a group of farmers in MP’s Sheopur district received ₹2,000 notes that were missing Mahatma Gandhi’s image from the local SBI branch. The RBI has faced considerable flak for the poor quality of ₹2,000 and ₹500 notes in the months following demonetisation. The central bank initially blamed the printing quality issues on the “rush” to meet demand following demonetisation.