Fact check: Does writing on bank notes make them invalid?

You must have come across several bank notes in circulation with something written on them with pen. But does it mean that the such notes are invalid and cannot be used as legal tender? Recently, a message is doing the rounds on social media platforms claiming that a currency note will be rendered invalid if something is written over it. 

The viral message which said that the RBI has released new guidelines, under which writing on a note renders it invalid.

However, a Twitter post by PIB Fact Check said that the message is fake. It said that no bank notes with scribbling are not invalid and continue to be legal tender.

“NO, Bank notes with scribbling are not invalid & continue to be legal tender. Under the Clean Note Policy, people are requested not to write on the currency notes as it defaces them & reduces their life,” it said in a Tweet.

Does writing anything on the banknote make it invalid#PIBFactCheck

NO, Bank notes with scribbling are not invalid & continue to be legal tender

Under the Clean Note Policy, people are requested not to write on the currency notes as it defaces them & reduces their life pic.twitter.com/rZj3vgkzMv

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) February 24, 2023

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RBI Clean Note Policy

However, it has to be noted that under the clean note policy, people are requested not to write on the currency notes as it defaces them and reduces their life.

As per the Reserve Bank instructions, currency chest branches of the banks must offer, even to non-customers, good quality notes and coins in exchange for soiled and mutilated notes. Complaints, however, continue to be received in this regard from the public and trade bodies that these instructions have not been given full effect.

Clean Note Policy circular reads, "The members of the public were urged not to write on the currency notes and banks were instructed to provide unrestricted facility for exchange of soiled and mutilated notes."

Clean Note Policy was announced in 1999. Several steps were taken for augmenting the supply of currency notes and coins.

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