New Delhi: As India moves toward introducing polymer (plastic) currency notes, Indian packaging firm Uflex and US security-technology company Spectra Systems have reportedly submitted a joint bid for the project.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning a pilot release of polymer notes—10-rupee and 20-rupee denominations—at a scale of 100 crore notes each. The Union government has already approved the initiative, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary had earlier informed the Lok Sabha.
According to sources, the RBI-owned Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Pvt Ltd (BRBNMPL) has floated a tender to select suppliers of the raw material used for polymer notes. The tender specifies a requirement of 34,000 reams of plastic sheets for the 10-rupee notes and 34,000 reams for the 20-rupee notes, totalling 68,000 reams.
The notes are expected to use a special BOPP (biaxially oriented polypropylene) plastic substrate. Before any large-scale procurement, the material will be evaluated for technical quality, security features, printability and the supplier’s ability to ensure continuous supply.
Polymer banknotes are already used fully or partially in around 60 countries, including the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam and Romania. India is expected to test durability, security and print quality before wider adoption.
