Indian govt to introduce plastic currency to avoid counterfeiting

NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi-led government of India Friday informed parliament about its decision to print plastic currency notes, for which procurement of material has also been initiated, according to a local daily.

"It has been decided to print banknotes based on plastic or polymer substrate. The process of procurement has been initiated," Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply in Lok Sabha - lower house of Indian parliament - to a query whether Reserve Bank of India proposes to replace paper with plastic for printing currency notes.

India's central bank has for long been planning to launch plastic currency notes after field trials.

In February 2014, the Indian government had informed parliament that one billion plastic notes of Rs 10 denomination would be issued in a field trial in five cities selected onthe basis of their geographical and climatic diversity. The cities were Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Shimla and Bhubaneswar.

Plastic notes have an average life span of about five years and are difficult to imitate, compared to paper currency.

Such currency was first introduced in Australia as a measure to avoid counterfeiting.