Torn notes? Use an RBI drop box, get cash electronically

Have a torn currency note? No problem. Just go to a select Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regional office and drop the note along with your bank account number into a box called 'Triple Lock Receptacle' (TLR).

The value of mutilated notes will be directly credited to your bank account through the electronic clearing service free of cost. This is one of the highlights of the RBI's 'Draft of the citizens' released by the central bank on July 15.

The notes can be dropped into the box in a closed cover. All you would need to do is to write the particulars of the notes, your name, address and bank account number on the cover.

Customers can also send mutilated notes by insured and registered post to the RBI offices. These covers should be sent through registered and insured post.

In case the customer does not have a bank account or the place where he/she resides does not have a clearing service, the exchange value could be remitted by means of bank draft/money order at the cost of the tenderer. However, the TLR facility will be available only for mutilated/cut notes and not for soiled notes.

Individuals can also get their notes exchanged into coins using the coin dispensers installed in the banking halls of the Reserve Bank's regional offices. The exchange facility over the bank's counters will be available during the business hours of the regional office free of cost.

This facilities are provided at the counters of the bank's regional offices at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Belapur (Navi Mumbai), Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram.

Since the Reserve Bank offices are located in select centres, it has made arrangement for provision of the facility of exchange of soiled notes, exchange of notes to coins and coins to notes at the branches of scheduled commercial banks.

While the facility for exchange of soiled notes is available at all branches of public sector banks and currency chest branches of private sector bank, the facility of exchange of mutilated / cut notes is available only at the currency chest branches of commercial banks. The branches of co-operative banks and regional rural banks (RRBs) will not be eligible to exchange mutilated notes.