Right hand to be inked for Old currency exchange from today

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ A small mark of indelible ink, used mostly during elections to prevent multiple voting, will be put on the right hand finger of those exchanging banned 500 and 1,000 rupee notes for new ones from Wednesday to prevent crowding at banks by repeat exchangers.

As per the assessment of Finance Ministry, bank counters are getting overcrowded due to same people turning up again and again to exchange old notes. “Ideally, the ink mark should have been put on the left hand as is done when a person casts his vote. But with by-elections due in some states, an ink mark for exchange or withdrawal of currency note on the left hand will lead to unnecessary difficulties. So it has been decided that the ink mark would be put on right hand,” an official said.

The ink manufactured at the Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd – the firm that has supplied indelible ink to the Election Commission since 1962 to mark voters, has been made available to banks and post offices from Tuesday. Banks in major cities will start marking note exchangers with the ink, the official said.

Also, an expert committee comprising of officers from the Department of Economic Affairs and the Department of Financial Services are preparing standard operating procedure (SoPs) for ink marking as well as additional steps to be taken to manage the crowds.