The Mahatma goes missing from Rs 2000 note in Madhya Pradesh

Reports of there being printing errors in the new notes issued post demonetisation have come in from several areas. The latest instance, coming from Madhya Pradesh, is probably the gravest such episode. A farmer in the state was issued a Rs 2,000 note that did not have Mahatma Gandhi's picture. While this raised questions of whether fake or counterfeit notes have made their way into banking system, bank officials clarified that the note was genuine and was the result of a printing error. Officials at the State Bank of India branch that issued the note initially refused to take the farmer's note back but ultimately relented after another person was issued a similarly defective note from the same branch. The episode has raised questions over whether the Reserve Bank of India's printing presses - already working over time in three shifts - can cope with the pressure of supplying new notes.