Plastic currency notes - RBI to begin field trials soon
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to introduce new Rs 10 plastic currency notes on trial basis from September. RBI was authorized by the government to procure plastic substrate and print them. Field trials for one billion plastic notes of Rs. 10 denomination would be conducted in five cities - Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Shimla, and Bhubaneswar. Know all about the plastic currency.
The constitution of trial notes
Of the one billion notes to be tried, 400 million will be pure plastic notes, 300 million will be a polymer-paper mix with polymer in middle and paper on edges, and another 300 million will have paper layer in middle and polymer on the edges.
Why the shift to plastic currency?
The move to introduce plastic money is understood to be a step to fight counterfeit currency. Plastic or polymer notes contain many security features which are difficult to reproduce through scanning or photocopying making it difficult to counterfeit. Once the trial period is successful, plastic notes will come into circulation and government will introduce polymer notes of higher denominations.
Benefits of plastic currency over paper notes
Plastic bank notes are created from polymer substrate made of bi-axially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film. Apart from the advantage of enhanced security, plastic notes last longer than the paper notes. They have an average life span of five years. Further polymer notes are cleaner with a lower environmental footprint, and reduce the cost of production and replacement. They are also moisture resistant.
Australia, the pioneer of plastic notes
Australia is the first country to introduce plastic notes in 1988. Polymer-based notes are now in use over 20 countries across the world including New Zealand, Canada, Scotland, Vietnam, Brunei, Papua New Guinea, etc,.
