Patna, Oct. 13: Bank of India, in association with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), organised a coin distribution fair at its Jamal Road branch today to tide over the shortage of coins in the market.

Coins in various denominations worth Rs 10 lakh were on offer in exchange of currency notes.

Mohammad Sona, a cigarette stall owner in Phulwarisharif, was one of the recipients at the fair. Struggling to return change to his customers, he came to exchange notes worth Rs 500.

“People buy a cigarette or a paan (betel leaf) for Rs 5-6 and pay in notes of Rs 10 or of higher denomination. Often, I have to give them few toffees in return when I don’t have enough change. This annoys my customers,” said Sona. Priyabrat C., the deputy general manager of RBI, who inaugurated the fair, said: “The RBI is organising coin distribution fairs in association with nationalised banks for sufficient circulation of coins.” He added: “There would be 50 more such fairs in association with other banks in and around Patna in the coming days. We would also organise similar fairs in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad as well as other cities in Bihar in coming weeks.”

K.B. Jain, the zonal manager of Bank of India, said: “Coins play a major role in our day-to-day life and fairs like this ensure their availability in the market. Before today, the bank also organised another fair at the Gulzarbagh branch, where we received good response.”