As the demonetisation process has engulfed the entire country, a Karnataka Government undertaking Mysore Paints and Varnish ltd (MPVl) in Mysuru has found an opportunity in this process to make revenue of Rs3.5 crores. As part of a strategy to avoid repeated transactions of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes the Union Finance Ministry has made it compulsory to apply indelible ink on the fingers of people swapping currency, the Mysuru based company has taken an order to supply 300,000 bottles of ink to the banks across the country.
This Mysuru-based company is the only one in the country authorised to supply indelible ink for the elections across the country since 1962. The Company is also supplying ink for elections in other countries to fulfill the process of elections.
According to MPVl chairman H A Venkatesh they are working overtime to meet the demand of RBI. Though the banks have approached the MPVl directly seeking indelible ink, the MYPVl has decided to distribute inks to banks through RBI branches across the country. According to him they have already supplied 30000 bottles of ink to the banks. The 5 cc bottle can be used to mark on 500 customers that will be visible on the right hand index finger of them for 30 days. The company according to Venkatesh doesn’t accept orders directly from the banks but said they have enough man power and stock of raw material to meet the demand.
According to officials a 5cc bottle of these special indelible ink costs rupees 116 and already they have received orders from election commission for 5 lakh bottles of ink to the ensuing assembly polls in five states.
According to C Harakumar , General Manager , they are working out to introduce a sketch pen instead of using traditional method to apply indelible ink mark on the fingers of customers, in association with National Research laboratory and National Chemistry Development laboratory has carried out a research to bring out a sketch pen.
He said they are in talks with the Election Commission and will present a demo of sketch pen to the EC in December. He said one pen can be used to mark on 1,000 voters.
The highest quantity of ink — 1,25,100 vials — had been sought by the head office of Bank of India, followed by the State Bank of India, Bengaluru, which placed orders for 1,00,000 vials. Each vial contains 5 ml of ink.
The company was started as the Mysore lac and Paints limited by the Maharaja of Mysore, Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar in the year 1937 for manufacturing paints and other related products. It became a public sector company when India gained independence in 1947. In 1962, it was selected to manufacture indelible ink, which was first used in the third general election in India. The process involved in manufacturing the ink is a closely guarded secret and is based on a chemical formula devised by the National Physical laboratory of India.
The ink is also exported to countries like Thailand, Singapore, Nigeria, Malaysia and South Africa. It has also started manufacturing marker pens containing this ink for easy usage and this has also been used in elections held in Afghanistan.The company also manufactured indelible ink for Cambodian elections in 2012.