“An exercise for introduction of security features in all denominations of bank notes is under way,” said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee here recently.
This is being piloted by the Directorate of Currency of the Ministry of Finance.
The minister also indicated that the present bank notes with the new rupee symbol approved by the Unicode Standard Authority would be in circulation shortly.
New coins with rupee symbol and better designs would be released during July this year.
Pointing out that counterfeiting of currency “is a matter of great concern” , Mukherjee said the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited had already taken steps to produce indigenous raw material for the production of bank notes to tackle the problem.
“This will lead to the production of about 80-85 per cent of the bank note paper in the country in the next three years,” Mukherjee said.
Apart from causing damage to the economy, the circulation of fake currency is also posing a serious threat to the country’s security. As per the intelligence reports, fake currency is being increasingly used by Pak-based terrorist outfits to fund terror activities in the country.
The government has also set up a high-level committee, comprising representatives of Reserve Bank on India and top officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Intelligence Bureau to recommend new security features to be incorporated in bank notes.
The committee was also mandated to recommend specific measures like making the process of production and printing of notes.
