Are you one whose been complaining about Muddy, soiled or scribbled currency notes you get from the shops. Or had fights with shopkeepers saying the note is not acceptable?
No more worries my friends.. Yes, Reserve Bank of India has planned to give you better solution soon.
RBI has announced that plastic notes will be introduced by 2015. As per government estimations, in India around 20% of all existing currency notes gets soiled or scribbled. For which the government faces Rs. 2 lakh crore loss, as a result RBI has decided to roll-out plastic/polymer currency notes.
During the Annual Report for 2013-14 RBI notified about this policy where there was a separate section in the presentation which discussed in detail about future plans for the next 12 months.
Raghuram Rajan, Governor, RBI in Shimla gave a statement during a Board meeting in Shimla as "Plastic notes are coming... Tender bids have come for 1 billion notes. In five cities, pilot testing would be done, including Shimla."
The pilot project is planned in 5 cities for their geographical and climatic diversity are Shimla, Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur and Bhubaneswar.
Sources added that heritage city Mysore might come-up with a plant for production of the above said plastic/polymer currency notes.
"The government has decided to introduce one billion plastic notes of Rs. 10/- denomination in a field trial spread over five cities selected for their geographical and climatic diversity" written Minister of state for finance Mr. Jayant Sinha to the Lok Sabha.
Jayant Sinha said, RBI has informed that since the proposal is at a trial stage, the decision on replacement of currency notes with plastic notes will depend on the results of field trial.
Is Plastic Currency needed?
We all know RBI recently announced all currency printed before 2005 will be expired in step to stop fake currency market. Also writing on notes is a punishable offense as per recent update.
Plastic currencies stain proof, and cannot be destroyed easily. In addition to that, it will also help in counterfeiting of currency as cloning a plastic note becomes tough.
Also, as many of the developed countries are opting for plastic currency when compared to paper notes, as there are many advantages with this. As result Plastic currency is not becoming the norm across the world slowly.
Step to Save Currencies...
In addition to plastic notes, RBI will also ‘harness technological advancements’ to protect currencies in India. For example, storage, transport and distribution of currency notes will be modified and a fully functional automated cash processing system will be implemented on a pilot basis. Besides, new series of bank notes will be introduced, which cannot be forged by counterfeiters.
Detailed Annual Report for 2013-14
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