The demonetization and its aftermath are already causing serious problems to people and here's another strange issue which shows how erroneous the government presses are working nowadays to supply enough quantity of currency.

In an unlikely casualty, Mahatma Gandhi's likeness is missing on a batch of the new Rs2,000 notes. The farmers in a village in Madhya Pradesh have received newly printed Rs2,000 notes without the Bapu's image printed on them and they are not fake.

At first the farmers thought that the notes were counterfeit but bank officials soon dispelled any such doubts and declared them "genuine". The officials cited a "printing error" as the cause behind the anomaly. Further, citing bank and police sources, the report said that many such notes were in circulation in that region.

Upon being notified, the State Bank of India branch from where the farmers had received the currency took back the notes. The notes, according to the report, were printed at the Bank Note Press in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh.

Haste, overworked presses to blame?

The country's currency presses have been working 24x7 to produce an year's output in just five months. The country has four such presses, located at Mysuru, Salboni, Dewas and Nashik.

Of the four presses, the one at Mysuru has the best printing lines. Till demonetization, this press, along with the one at Salboni, printed the bulk of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Dewas and Nashik, with older machines, print Rs 100, Rs 50, Rs 20, Rs 10, Rs 5 and Rs 2 notes. With the import of one machine line in 2015-16, some of the demand for the Rs 500 note can be met by the Dewas press.

The RBI’s indent for printing of Rs 500 notes is 5.7 billion for the current year and that for Rs 1,000 notes was 2.2 billion. The latter has been scrapped and replaced with a demand for Rs 2,000 notes. In five months, the automated presses at Mysuru and Salboni, which can run 24 hours without a break, have to print the same number of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes earmarked for the earlier Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes over 12 months.