Central government today said that it has taken a decision to print plastic currency notes and procurement of material have started.”It has been decided to print bank notes based on plastic or polymer substrate. The process of procurement has been initiated,” Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply in Lok Sabha to a query whether RBI proposes to print plastic currency notes in place of paper ones. The Reserve Bank has been planning to release plastic currency note after field trials.
The process of procurement has been initiated,” Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply in Lok Sabha to a query whether RBI proposes to print plastic currency notes in place of paper ones. The Reserve Bank has been planning to release plastic currency note after field trials.
Plastic currency notes would be introduced first in the selected cities of the country
The government had informed Parliament in February2014 that one billion plastic notes of Rs 10 denomination would be introduced in a field trial in five cities selected for their geographical and climatic diversity. Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Shimla, and Bhubaneswar were the selected cities.
Plastic currency notes are difficult to reproduce and they have an average life span of about five years. the Prime factor of currency notes made of plastic is cleaner than paper ones. Such kinds of notes were first introduced in the Australia to protect against counterfeiting.
RBI has received several complaints of counterfeit notes
while replying to another question, Meghwal said he was informed by RBI in December 2015 that they have received some banknotes of Rs 10000 without having security threads which were printed in Currency Note Press, Nashik, on paper supplied by Security Paper Mill, Hoshagabad.
A Probe has been instigated by Security Printing and Minting Corporation and the units involved SPM and CNP.
“Major penalty charge sheet has been issued to the personnel concerned. Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated as per departmental rules,” the minister said.
Meghwal further said the action has been taken for strengthening quality procedure and online inspection system in a manufacturing process. He also said that special training has been given to the concerned persons to eliminate such types of mistakes in future. He added that additional inspections have been introduced to ensure defect-free production.
