All 14 designs of 10 rupee coins are valid and legal tender for transactions, the Reserve Bank said on 17 January in a statement, amid reluctance by certain traders to accept the coins.
It has come to the notice of the Reserve Bank that in certain places there is reluctance on part of traders and members of the public to accept Rs 10 coins due to suspicion about their genuineness.RBI statement
In a report in the last week of December 2017, The Hindu said that there was a tendency to refuse the Rs 10 coin. It added that from traders, to roadside vendors, and even beggars, many demonstrated a hesitance to accept the coin as legal tender.
In a statement, the central bank clarified that it puts into circulation the coins minted by government mints.
These coins, it further said, have distinctive features to reflect various themes of economic, social, and cultural values and are introduced from time to time.
"So far the Reserve Bank has issued Rs 10 coin in 14 designs... All these coins are legal tender and can be accepted for transactions," the RBI said.
It has also asked banks to accept coins for transactions and exchange at all their branches.
The reports of traders refusing to accept ten rupee coins as legal tender came a few days before the RBI announced that it would shortly issue new Rs 10 notes under the Mahatma Gandhi series.
The central bank said that it had already printed around 1 billion pieces of the new Rs 10 note, according to three people familiar with the matter.
With chocolate brown colour as the base, the new note will bear the picture of Konark Sun Temple.
The Hindu report added that citizens seemed more at ease accepting the Rs 10 notes, than the coins.
(With inputs from PTI & The Hindu)
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