Don't travel in Delhi with 50 paise coins

Anger and consternation are what a majority of commuters encounter if they happen to include 50 paise coins in the fare for public transport vehicles in national capital Delhi.

"Yeh aap apne paas hi rakhiye (Keep this for yourself)," retorts the bus conductor refusing to accept the sum of Rs 2 one frequent commuter in Delhi hands over in fifty paise coins.

Veena, a government official who has to change two buses daily to get to her workplace says she frequently has to deal with such conductors who do not accept 50 paise coins.

Conductors say they have a tough time exchanging the paise coins into currency notes.

"Even beggars throw a contemptuous look at 25 and 50 paise coins. When the buses are crowded, we find it easier to manage the coins of two and five rupees and 50 paise coins unnecessarily fill up the space," says Sonu a conductor, adding that passengers also prefer to take the rupee notes rather than its half and quarter paise coins.

The Reserve Bank of India had recently issued a press release, which states that all coins are legal tender and cannot be refused. The Central bank says the 50 paise as well as the 25 paise coins are as much valid as are the hexagon-patterned 20 paise coin or the zig-zag frilly edged 10-paise.

"It is very clear. The RBI has issued no such guidelines to let the coins out of circulation. There is no such policy," Alpana Killawala, chief general manager, Press Relations, RBI, told PTI from Mumbai.

The situation is not so in other metros like Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata where there seems to be no difficulty in transacting with such small denomination coins.

P Dhanya, a college sophomore in Chennai says, "I regularly buy jasmine strands from the flower seller and she accepts 50 paise and 25 paise coins."

In Mumbai, Madhav Menon, an advertising professional who works erratic hours says, "I buy tea and bhajji from the teashop downstairs my office and I have not faced any such problem."

"People are taking and giving these coins," says one Mrs Das from Kolkata where the busfare are still in the range of Rs 3.75 and so on."

"If people don't find any value for the ten and 20 paise coins they may stop taking them but they are still legally valid. If tomorrow you give me a 10 paise or a 20 paise coin, I cannot refuse taking it," says Killawala.     

However, she says it is another question if somebody wants to exchange Rs 1,000 with a whole bunch of coins. "They can then refuse to do so," she says.

Gyan Chand, a small-time businessman, who frequents the bank to exchange old and soiled notes for mint-new currency says the RBI has stopped accepting these coins around two months ago.

"RBI will not give you anything. If you want to exchange your 50 paise coins then you can go to my brother's shop in Chandini Chowk where you can do so on giving him a commission of 10 per cent," Gyan Chand says.

His brother Vimal Kumar Jain offers to reduce the commission to even eight per cent. But he advises you to sort the different denominations before bringing it to him.

"You have to sort out the 25 paise and the 50 paise coins because we do not have the time to do it," he informs.

Some shopkeepers have devised innovative ways to handle the coins. Tushar Srivastave, who lives in Uttam Nagar in Delhi says the Mother Diary outlet vendor in his locality gives plastic tokens in the place of of 50 paise and 25 paise.

"These tokens can be collected and returned to the vendor on subsequent purchase of milk," he says.

"Nowadays, 50 paise and 25 paise coins do not sell in the market. Even beggars do not take them," says S.K Jain President, Chandni Chowk Jewellers' Association.

Previously, 20 paise coins were made of brass and there were also coins like the 10 paise, the 5 paise, the three paise and two paise that were made of aluminium.

"Some people used to melt such coins and use the metal for making jewellery and idols," says Jain. With time the aluminium coins were phased out.

So what about those who stand in long queues outside RBI?

"These people take polythene bags filled with coins from the bank and sell it those who require it for a premium of 10 per cent. Mostly people who purchase coins are those who want to distribute alms on a large scale or some such purpose," says Jain.

Minting of coins in the country is done at the four Government mints at Mumbai, Alipore in Kolkata, Sifabad in Hyderabad, Cherlapally in Hyderabad and NOIDA in Uttar Pradesh.