The Hindu: Mumbai: Wednesday,
January 25, 2017.
Bharatiya
Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Ltd. (BRBNMPL) a subsidiary of the Reserve
Bank of India which prints banknotes has said it has the capacity to print 16
billion pieces of currency notes per annum, when operating in two shifts and
when the presses are operating at full capacity.
In reply to
an RTI query filed by The Hindu, BRBNMPL said the new ₹500 notes are printed
both by the government-owned Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India
Ltd. and BRBNMPL while the ₹2,000 denomination bank notes are printed only at
BRBNMPL.
“The capacity
of printing presses of government of India is not available,” the RBI
subsidiary said.
Following the
demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes in November 2016, 22 billion pieces of
currency notes were withdrawn from circulation of which 15.7 billion were in
₹500 notes and 6.3 billion were of the ₹1,000 denomination. However, BRBNMPL
declined to reply to queries seeking information on the specific number of new ₹500
and ₹2,000 notes that had been printed and circulated, as well as questions on
the security features in the new notes citing Section 8 (1) a of the Right to
Information Act, which allows information to be withheld if it “would
prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security,
strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State.” BRBNMPL also
sidestepped a question on whether the government or RBI plan to print currency
notes outside the country and said, “Information not held by BRBNMPL.”
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