india

Updated: Sep 07, 2019 02:28 IST

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told the Bombay high court (HC) on Friday that it does not intend to change the size of currency notes in the near future.

Senior advocate VR Dhond, who represented the banking regulator, made this statement in response to a query made by the HC bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and justice Bharati Dangre.

The bench was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the National Association for the Blind (NAB), highlighting the difficulties faced by the visually-impaired in identifying new currency notes and coins. The petitioner body had sought directions to the RBI to include distinctive features in currency notes and coins so that visually-impaired persons can easily identify them.

The bench said the Dhond’s statement will take care of most of the problem as retaining the size of the notes will help visually-impaired persons to identify the notes.

After Dhond pointed out that the beta (trial) version of a mobile application being developed by RBI to help the visually-impaired to identify the denomination of currency notes will become available on November 1, the bench posted the PIL for further hearing on November 4.