Relaunched Re 1 Note Costs Government Rs 1.14!

Do you know how much the government spends on printing a one-rupee note?

NEW DELHI:  Do you know how much the government spends on printing a one-rupee note? The Security Printing and Minting Corporation of Indian Limited (SPMCIL) has replied to an RTI query that the cost of printing one rupee note is Rs 1.14!

RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agarwal said that printing of one-rupee note was discontinued about two decades ago because of high printing cost. Also, notes of denominations of rupees two and five were subsequently discontinued for the same reason. But, the Finance Ministry subsequent to a gazette-notification in December  2014, re-issued one-rupee notes on March 6, 2015 at Shrinathji Temple, Nathdwara, Rajasthan.

The relaunched currency notes will be made up of cent percent cotton rag and will weigh 900 grams per square metre with a thickness of 110 microns.

The watermarks of the new note include an Ashoka Pillar symbol in the window without the words ‘Satyamev Jayate’, a latent numeral at the centre and the concealed word ‘Bharat’ (in Hindi) at the right side of the note.

The Union Finance Ministry is the issuing-agency for one-rupee note, signed by the Finance Secretary. All other Indian currency notes are printed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), bearing the signature of its governor.

“The cost of one-rupee note is Rs 1.14 (provisionally and unaudited) as determined in accordance with the principle of costing and costing module implemented in SPMCIL,” said an RTI reply.

According to Agarwal,  the new one-rupee notes are, however, not seen even by staff-members of distributing-agency RBI. The new notes are just souvenirs for endorsing signatures of top financial bureaucrat on currency, he added.

Agarwal, quoting  RBI sources, said that some limited number of new one-rupee note packs have been sent to the Finance Ministry at their request.

“Enquiry should be made if retrogressive step of re-issue of costly one-rupee notes was taken so that signatures of top bureaucrat of Union Finance Ministry may appear on these notes for becoming a historical feature in future,” he said.