Demonetisation: Banks to use indelible ink to ensure people change cash only once

Banks will use indelible ink to ensure that people change old notes for new only once under Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s scheme to fight "black money", resorting to a tactic used to prevent multiple voting in elections.

A top finance ministry official said the move would prevent "unscrupulous persons" from sending large numbers of people from branch to branch to change old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes to get around the crackdown.

"You find the same people coming back again and again," Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das told a news briefing on Tuesday.

Under the so-called demonetisation scheme, people are allowed to exchange up to 4,500 rupees once only. A shortage of new 500 and 2,000 rupee banknotes has caused a massive cash crunch in Asia`s third-largest economy.