Bank officials in Gurgaon said that there has not been any official word on this matter from the RBI but they are taking precautions while accepting the Rs 500 notes.

``We are accepting all the currency notes of Rs 500 denomination though with a little caution since there are rumours of fake currency in circulation,'' said a bank official.Currency officer of the RBI, New Delhi, P.C. Kapoor told Express Newsline that the Nagpur branch had only issued a `cautionary notice following the recovery of fake currency notes of Rs 500 denomination by the Mumbai police. ``It was an all India alert but there is no question of not accepting Rs 500 notes,'' Kapoor said.

Kapoor said that there was rumours also that the RBI will withdraw from circulation old series of notes in the denomination of Rs 500 within two months and replace them with a new series of notes. ``There is no intention of withdrawing from circulation the old series of currency notes in the denomination of Rs 500. The note continues to be legal tender and all notes in circulation including the old series can be used, said a press release issue by the RBI on May 22.

But the most interesting aspect of the whole issue been the large inflow Rs 500 notes into the banks, says the manager of the Canara Bank M.C. Guaba.

Another bank manager said that the quantity of deposits in the form of Rs 500 notes has increased over the past few days. ``People don't want to take any changes,'' he added an official of the Punjab and Sind Bank said that initially there was a surge of Rs 500 notes but it has subsided now. ``The spurt has been mainly because of such rumours,'' said a bank official here.