The Reserve Bank of India will soon issue 100-crore polymer notes of Rs 10 denomination to improve their longevity and thwart counterfeiters. These notes will be initially introduced by RBI in five cities. This was disclosed by RBI governor D Subbarao while speaking at the Foundation Stone laying function for the bank note paper mill at Mysore. The bank note market is monopolistic in India. The existing bank note mill facility is at Hoshangabad. India produces only 5% of its requirements in bank note paper. We need to significantly increase our self sufficiency in this regard for a number of operational, economic and strategic reasons. The Mysore bank note paper mill will have an annual production capacity of 12,000 tonnes as a backward linkage in the process of note printing. The proposed paper mill is a JV between the Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran and the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India. The two agencies are responsible for printing of all currency notes.
Polymer notes are printed on a specialized polypropylene plastic that is derived from petroleum, and this material is not available commercially for security control purposes.
While cleanliness and durability are seen as the major advantages of polymer, the carbon footprint associated with production, use and disposal of polymer notes is an important issue. Polymer bank notes and the waste from production can be granulated and recycled into useful plastic products.
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