Indian Currency

Why are Indian shop- and hotel-keepers so obsessed with checking if your rupees are genuine.

Whenever I buy something people are holding notes up to thelight, turning thrm around and sometimes giving them back to me and asking for a better one.

Not just big notes- even had it happen with a 10 Rp note yesterday!

The 500s and up are because they are commonly counterfeited. It's common in the States, I'm sure it's just as common in those places in Australia where they use currency as money.

The last you wrote is just stupid, however... Most people won't take torn bills of any denomination.

I was told - perhaps wrongly - that one in five paper notes in India is counterfeit. I was also told that when a business turns their notes in to the bank they eat the cost of any counterfeit bills the bank discovers.

If any or all of that is true then I don't begrudge a small business owner the right to check on the authenticity of the currency he/she takes in.

The same in the US even if you get it from the post office. Wear & tear is an accepted long standing tradition in India that relates to the sheer hassle of doing business with 17th century banks..

Who do you think they give the fake 500Rs to? The gora's !!!

Quite likely so:). They always gave me the grungy notes. Its actually quite a fun game passing them off to others..

Who do you think they give the fake 500Rs to? The gora's !!!

Yeah, we ate dinner at a niceish restaurant and paid by putting a 500R note in the folder and handing it to the waiter. He comes back a little while later and tries to return a 500R note saying it was ripped. It was NOT the same bill we had given to pay with. BEWARE out there in India Land. No - we didn't let them get away with it. I'd forgotten that little scam.

As for the old "it is the same everywhere" argument on this forum - that is just ridiculous - never sen such paranoia - and yes it is all coming from the banks. however, the torn 10R notes seemed less of a issue in South of India. But when we arrived in the golden triangle and other northen areas every other bill seemed to be refused by rickshaw drivers, hotels, and merchants - it got to the point we just told them to take them or leave them and walk off.

Never happened to us. Can't tell you why.

There's some degree of counterfeiting. Also, some people just like cleaner notes!

The odd thing is that they tell you to go to the bank and chnage the notes- which I did with a couple of 500's. No problems.

If no problems, why cant they do it?

Perhaps it is because the ATM only dispenses brand new INR500 notes we did have any hassles.

@9. they dont do it because its your note. so your responsibility. something on those lines i guess.

The govt is using the counterfeit racket (by no means a small affair) to push for more electronic transactions by credit/debit/EFT etc.

This not only helps reduce circulation of paper currency but also will bring more and more transactions under the tax net.

So while there is no conspiracy theory here, there is a silver lining in disguise for the general state of the economy.

also will bring more and more transactions under the tax net

The one big area that, if at least mostly fixed, will have everyone looking at India in a very different way.

Roughly on topic, it's written that you can't bring INR 500 or 1000 notes to Nepal (due to counterfeit issues). In practice, all the "little guys" will change your money, and only the North Face company store would not take the notes. I would guess other large, reputable operations would be the same.

the little guys are the owners of the shops in most cases or someone closely in the "family" so they are highly motivated to check for fakes. any loss is their own personal loss.
Plus they have done the math for cash transactions v/s trackable ones.

the big stores have employees who may not necessarily have the training or motivation to check for fakes. so they just decide to not accept it. plus they do not really not report transactions.
:)

As they're, it is wise to see all the notes you recieve back as balance from a shop/supermarket. Ask them for a different note and they'll oblige.

Yes, as others have said, this is a major problem and can get quite bugging. Always check the notes. Last year, in my cities's TOI people siad, they got fake notes from ATMs, too!

You gotta laugh ! I tried to exchange 4 x AUD$50 in February and the guy refused to take one of them because it had the tiniest of tiny bits missing from one corner. Apart from that they were all brand new, shiny polymer notes. He refused point blank and got all officious about it, but when he gave me my R6000 in 500's most of them had writing on them, several were torn or had bits missing, they all had staple holes and half were pretty dirty. when I asked for notes similar in condition to the ones I had exchanged, he said "everything is possible in India, but not what you ask !"

"everything is possible in India, but not what you ask !"

Words to live by..