Indians are being urged to hand over a note worth zero rupees when asked for a bribe, in a bid to stamp out corruption among officials.

Last year, international corruption watchdog Transparency International said almost 4 million Indian families had to bribe officials for access to basic services.

Vijay Anand, from the lobby group 5th Pillar, says they began distributing the worthless note because of a lack of practical solutions for tackling corruption.

"The topic of corruption have never been on the surface," he said.

"Everybody was practising it, paying bribes, getting their jobs done. We thought that the fundamental reason was there was lack of alternatives - there was no practical solutions, no alternatives.

"So we thought we should come up with something. One of our volunteers came up with the idea of the zero-rupee note and we then launched it on a wide scale."

The note, similar to a real 50-rupee note, carries 5th Pillar's email address and phone number.

At the moment the zero-rupee notes are mainly found in Tamil Nadu, the most southern state in India, but there are plans to distribute the protest note in majors cities including Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

Mr Anand says the notes have been well received by the public and often shaming officials into getting business done efficiently.

"The public who have received these notes have been more than enthusiastic and willing to use them and the officials who receive them get a sense of shock and fear because no-one has ever confronted them by saying no to bribery," he said.

"An old lady who was waiting for land titles, she was [asked] for a bribe of 7,000 rupees," he said.

"She came to our office and got a zero rupee note and then went to department and handed this note over. She got the job done in 30 minutes - the same job she waited a year-a-half for."

Last year India's standing in Transparency International's corruption index fell from 72nd to 85th in a list of 180 countries.

Transparency International India executive director Anupama Jha says while the note is an interesting way of tackling corruption, it is only a small step in fighting bribes.

"This is a small step in the right direction but much more needs to be done," she said.