Eleven branches of the state-run State Bank of India on Wednesday have begun putting indelible ink marks on customers exchanging their old currency notes for fresh ₹ 500 and ₹ 2,000 notes.
The move was announced by the government on Tuesday as a means to discourage people from converting their black money to white and also to cut down on the long queues at banks.
A person is allowed to exchange old notes totalling up to ₹4,500 on a single day
According to the operating guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India, the facility for exchanging old notes for new ones would be available only once.
“Bank branches and post-offices would put indelible ink marks on the right index finger of the customer so as to identify that he/ she has exchanged old currency notes only once,” it said, adding that the procedure would be introduced in the metro cities and expanded to other areas later.