RBI forbids banks from stapling note packets

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday directed banks to do away with stapling of note packets and issue only clean currency notes to the public.

It also asked banks to stop writing of any kind on the watermark window of bank notes. In a notification issued on Tuesday, RBI said, “...Banks should do away with stapling of any note packet and instead secure note packets with paper bands and should sort notes into re-issuables and non-issuables, and issue only clean notes to public." 

Further, the apex bank said that instances of some bank branches continuing to follow old practices such as stapling, writing number of note pieces in loose packets on watermark window of notes disfiguring the watermark impression and rendering it difficult for easy recognition have come to its notice.

RBI also said that certain bank branches continue to issue soiled notes to public without sorting them into re-issuables and non-issuables.  "Such practices are against the 'Clean Note Policy' of RBI," it added.

Basically, RBI's Clean Note Policy's objective is to give the citizens good quality currency notes and coins, while withdrawing the soiled notes out of circulation.

On an average, one out of five paper notes in circulation (over 20 per cent) gets disposed every year after getting soiled and the number of such soiled currency bills stood at over 13 billion units during the fiscal ended March 31, 2012, according to RBI data.