Both older and newer Rs 10 coins are valid: RBI

Amid confusion over the validity of Rs 10 coins, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday asserted that all such coins were legal tenders.

"The Reserve Bank of India advise members of the public not to give credence to such ill-informed notions and ignore them and continue to accept these (Rs 10) coins as legal tender in all their transactions without any hesitation," RBI Principal Adviser Alpana Killiwala said.

Meanwhile, banking facilities returned to normalcy in Meghalaya with few people seen lining up banks and ATMs.

However, the claims of "non-validity" of Rs 10 coins by rumour mongers has created confusion in the minds of people.

Some ill-informed or uninformed persons who suspect the genuineness of such coins are creating doubts in the minds of ordinary people including traders, shop-keepers etc, thus impeding the circulation of these coins in certain pockets of the country and causing avoidable confusion, Killiwala said.

Circulation of Rs 10 coins has been affected in the state following claims that these coins have been taken out of the market as was done to Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

The RBI, however, clarified that from time to time coins were issued with little changes.

"One such change was introduction of 'Rupee symbol' in coins in July 2011. An instance of this is the '10' coins with rupee symbol and the same denomination coin without rupee symbol," the official said.

Killiwala said both are legal tender and equally valid for transactions though they may look a little different.

Those refusing to accept the coins may face action, a police official said.