New Delhi: Just yesterday,  we were shocked at the news that a State Bank of India ATM machine was dispensing play notes instead of the real stuff. This is scary for ATM users all over the country. However, a minister says the government is ‘not perturbed’ over counterfeit currency being dispensed, says a PTI report on Feb 23.

[On December 15,  last year The Times of India reported a man from Sitamarhi in Bihar claiming that an ATM had dispensed fake currency. The claim was not taken seriously by the bank concerned, who gave a similar answer to the one that you will read below. there was no follow up on this story. Delhi, of course is more newsworthy!]

The government will investigate reports of an SBI ATM in South Delhi dispensing fake Rs 2,000 notes and will take all possible steps to control generation of counterfeit currency, a senior minister said today.

Minister of State for Finance Santosh Gangwar said the government is not perturbed by the stray incident of fake 2,000 rupee notes bearing ‘Children Bank of India’ being dispensed from a State Bank of India ATM in South Delhi’s Sangam Vihar.

“The government will investigate the matter. Fake currency should not come out of ATM. If there are reports in newspapers, then it will be investigated,” he told reporters here.

Yesterday, SBI, the nation’s largest lender, had stated that “the possibility of fake notes from the bank’s ATMs is very remote” and it “suspects involvement of some miscreants with mischievous intent”.

“The government is taking measures to control fake currency generation. Some people are trying to create problem in the country. We will be able to say (who they are) only after investigation,” Gangwar said.

He said SBI’s claim of fake currency being introduced during transportation of bank notes by third parties will be investigated.

The government, the minister said, is not worried by the stray incident, but will investigate the matter fully.

SBI has said it has in place “a very robust system for monitoring the quality of notes” at all its currency chests.

“All notes received by the bank and to be dispensed by the bank, either through its ATMs or its branches, are processed through the latest state-of-the-art Note Sorting Machines,” SBI had said in a statement yesterday.

“These machines are equipped with the templates of all legal tender in the country and any note not conforming to the security features is separated as ‘suspect note’ for further manual scrutiny. Thus, no fake note is likely to be dispensed through the bank’s ATMs at any time.”

SBI is examining the notes in all other ATMs handled by the same custodians of the bank and replenished by the same cash replenishment agency.

  crime, fraud, naked greed, State Bank of India