If recent news report about fake Rs 10 coins making its way into the capital are to be believed then chances are you may be carrying one in your wallet. According to Delhi Police, two youths suspected to be linked to a Nepal-based gang were arrested from south Delhi for supplying counterfeit Indian currency coins to food joints. Around 41,600 counterfeit coins with a face value of Rs 10 were recovered from the duo.
Surprisingly, no guidelines have been issued for the public to watch out for fake Rs 10 coins.
A bank official at Oriental Bank of Commerce says that they have not received any guideline from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with regard to this matter. “We do not deal with Rs 10 denomination. But even then, we do not know what a fake one looks like. How are we to differentiate it from the real, as it’s a coin and not a rupee or 500 note, which has several factors to check.”
It’s not just the bank, but seems like everybody is clueless in the capital. No one is really aware how the fake coin looks like, least of all the shopkeepers who are not affected by it.
Atul, a chemist shop owner in Amar Colony, says, “Yes, I saw it in the paper, but I am not checking every Rs 10 coin that is coming to us. How can I and on what basis do I check with my customer? When nobody is making an effort to sort this issue, how can I start my investigation? Flashing a Rs 10 coin, he asks, can you tell if this is fake? The fake must be strikingly similar to the original, but the question is how to detect it?”
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) H.G.S. Dhaliwal said at a press conference that the gang minted counterfeit coins in Nepal and circulated them here through big food joints in Delhi, Gurgaon and other metropolitan cities of the country.
Another senior member of a private bank reveals on condition of anonymity, “RBI issues circulars from time to time to banks when such an incident occurs, however, all banks have their own internal process to detect fakes as well. But so far, no mail has come with regard to fake Rs 10 coins. Every bank needs to submit a report on the amount of fake currency they have received, to the RBI. Perhaps, RBI is still in the process to sort this out. It’s rare that a customer deposits coins, they demand for it. It is on their special request we ask for coins, else, we do not deal with such a low denomination.”
Interestingly, Sanjiv Jain, who heads the currency test for HDFC Delhi and Gurgaon says he hasn’t come across fake coins since they deal with RBI directly. “I don’t know how it looks, but as compared to a note, coins are little bit more difficult to detect,” he says.
Renu Singh, who works in a beauty parlour feigns ignorance and says, “I don’t know about this. We take money without checking at the parlour, here you are talking about coins, thankfully, we still get Rs 10 notes as tips.”