What to do when you’ve damaged a precious Rs 2,000 note? This Mumbai man is trying to find out

“The banks are not exchanging notes worth more than Rs 2,000 and my wife urgently needs Rs 5,000 for treatment. I spent close to eight hours exchanging old notes for new ones at the IDBI Bank and the Indian Overseas Bank’s Worli branches. In my anxiety to deposit the money in her account as soon as possible, I ended up damaging the Rs 2,000 note,” he told Mumbai Mirror.

Jafri then visited both the banks in the hope of getting his money exchanged but the officials told him that it was impossible to change the note amid the mad rush and there are no guidelines as to what has to be done with the new currency notes in case they’re torn. “I was told that at this stage, no bank or post office will take back damaged notes. They told me to approach the Reserve Bank of India. I just had Rs 4,000 and a few hundreds. With one note no longer valid, I don’t know how I will pay for my wife’s treatment,” he was quoted as saying. Reportedly, his wife needed Rs 5,000 for her treatment.

In what came as a shocking surprise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped the use of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in a bid to curb corruption and black money.