In a bid to curb to the menace of counterfeit notes, the Government has decided to print plastic banknotes. The Government on Friday informed Parliament that procurement process has been already started in this regard.
“It has been decided to print banknotes 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 the lok Sabha to a query whether RBI proposes to print plastic currency notes in place of paper ones.
Plastic notes have an average life span of about five years and can incorporate many security features that cannot be successfully reproduced by photocopying or scanning making them difficult to counterfeit. Also, currency notes made of plastic are cleaner than paper ones. Such notes were first introduced in Australia to safeguard against counterfeiting.
At least 20 countries, including Canada, Fiji, Australia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Romania, Vietnam and Britain, have been using the polymer currency. As per an IMF report, the plastic currency provides a wide range of benefits, including security features and long durability, apart from being environment-friendly.
After reviewing the performance of some countries that use plastic currency notes, the Reserve Bank India (RBI) for long has been planning to launch plastic currency note after field trials.
In February 2014, the Government had informed Parliament 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. The selected cities were Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Shimla and Bhubaneswar.
Replying to another question, Meghwal said it was informed by RBI in December 2015 that they have received some banknotes of Rs 1,000 printed at Currency Note Press (CNP), Nashik, on paper supplied by Security Paper Mill (SPM), Hoshangabad, without security thread.
An enquiry has been initiated by Security Printing and Minting Corporation (SPMCIl) and the units involved (SPM and CNP). “Major penalty chargesheet has been issued to the personnel concerned. Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated as per departmental rules,” he said.