RBI Issues Clarification On Replacing Mahatma Gandhi’s Face On Banknotes

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday clarified that there would be no change in existing currency and banknotes.

The clarification came amid reports that the central bank and the central government are mulling changes to the note by replacing the face of Mahatma Gandhi with that of other leaders such as APJ Abdul Kalam and Rabindranath Tagore. “There are reports in certain sections of the media that the Reserve Bank of India is considering changes to the existing currency and banknotes by replacing the face of Mahatma Gandhi with that of others,” the RBI said in a statement.

“It may be noted that there is no such proposal in the Reserve Bank,” it stated.

Citing unnamed sources, the New Indian Express had reported that the RBI and the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL), under the Ministry of Finance, are considering using watermarks of writer and Nobel Prize awardee Rabindranath Tagore, and India’s former President APJ Abdul Kalam on some banknotes.  While designing of samples had ‘official sanction’, no firm decision has been taken on it yet, it added.