The Import Of Currency
- by Rezwan Razack
The Import of Currency
In 1997-98,
the Government of India, as a one-time measure, issued orders through the
Reserve Bank of India to import a quantity of 3,600 million notes printed by
German, Canadian, American, French and British companies for denominations of Rs.100
signed by Governor Mr. Rangarajan and Rs.500 partly signed by Mr. Rangarajan
and partly by Governor Mr.Bimal Jalan.
Mr.
Rangarajan was replaced by Mr. Bimal Jalan on 22nd November
1997. This necessitated a change in
signature. Hence the Rs.500/- notes were
printed partly with the signature of Mr.Rangarajan and remaining with the
signature of Mr. Bimal Jalan. There was
also an additional change in the note where “M. K. Gandhi” was expanded to
“Mahatma Gandhi” below the portrait on the obverse.
Rs.500
– Signatory Governor Mr. Rangarajan; “M. K. Gandhi” written below Portrait
Rs.500 – Signatory Governor Mr. Bimal Jalan;
“Mahatma Gandhi” written below Portrait
Rs.100 – Signatory Governor Mr. Rangarajan; “M.
K. Gandhi” written below Portrait
The
below mentioned international banknote printers supplied notes to the Reserve
Bank of India:
•
Giesecke and Derivant of Germany / Oberthur
Fiduciaire France Consortium : 800 million notes of Rs.500 notes valued
at Rs.40,000 crore.
• The
Canadian Bank Note Company : 800 million notes of Rs.500 notes valued at Rs.40,000
crore.
•
Thomas De La Rue of UK : 1,265
million notes of Rs.100 notes valued at Rs.12,650 crore along with
Bundesdruckerei of Germany : 100 million notes of Rs.100 notes valued at Rs
1,000 crore, totaling to 1365 million notes valued at 13,650 crores.
• The
American Banknote Company: 635 million notes of Rs.100 notes valued at Rs 6,350
crore.
The
exercise cost the exchequer around $ 95 million.
Packing Certificate – Rs.100 – Thomas De La Rue & Company Limited
Packing Certificate – Rs.100 – ABN Co. - USA
Packing
Certificate – Rs.500 – Francois-Clarles Oberthur Fiduciaire
Prefix
Range:
500₹ : Without Inset
Prefix
Range : AA-HD
Governor : Mr. Rangarajan
Type : 6.8.2.1
500₹ : Without Inset
Prefix
Range : HE-HW
Governor
: Mr. Bimal Jalan
Type : 6.8.2.2A
100₹ : Inset ‘A’
Prefix
Range : AA-LW
Governor : Mr. Rangarajan
Type : 6.7.11.1B
The import
of this currency notes was in addition to the notes printed by Reserve Bank of
India.
The
Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU) criticized the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) and the Finance Ministry for outsourcing the printing of Indian currency
notes amounting to a sum of Rs.1 lakh crore to three foreign countries in
1997-98. The Committee described the
move as “an unprecedented, unconventional and uncalled for measure.”
The
COPU report was tabled in Parliament by its Chairman Mr. V. Kishore Chandra
Deo.
The
report recalled that 2,000 million pieces of 100 rupee denomination and 1,600
million pieces of 500 rupee denomination of notes were outsourced for printing
at American Banknote Company (USA) - 635 million pieces, Thomas De La Rue-UK -
1,365 million pieces (100 rupee denomination) and Giesecke and Devrient
Consortium (Germany) - 1,600 million pieces (500 rupee denomination).
Stating
that the reasons for outsourcing by the RBI as:
· bad
condition of the notes
· the
‘soilage' factor
The
reasons attributed by the RBI representative to the Committee were “far from
convincing”. The Committee asked how a
decision was made to get the currency notes printed abroad in three different
countries. “There was always a grave
risk of unauthorised printing of excess currency notes, which would have been
unaccounted money,” it said adding “that in any case the very thought of
India's currency being printed in three different countries is alarming and
during that particular fateful period our entire economic sovereignty was at
stake.”
The
Committee highlighted “the likely danger of destabilising the economy by the
agencies or authorities who could have misused our security parameters
vis-à-vis printing of currency notes, the use of such notes which could have
been printed in excess could easily have fallen in the hands of unscrupulous
elements such as terrorists, extremists and other economic offenders.”
The
demand for bank notes has been steadily increasing. With a view to augmenting
the production of bank notes in India and to enable the RBI to bridge the gap
between the supply and demand for banknotes in the country the Government of
India decided to establish two new bank note printing presses one at Mysore and
the other at Salboni.
While
all the lines of production at Mysore went on stream on 12th May 1999, the
Salboni Press was inaugurated on 12th February 2000.
___
Rezwan Razack
co-Author – ‘The Revised Standard Reference Guide to Indian Paper Money’
Chairman - IBNS India Banknote Collectors’ Chapter; IBNS # 9733
URL: www.indianbanknotes.com; Blog: www.indianbanknote.blogspot.com
E-mail: properties@vsnl.com, indiancurrencymuseum@gmail.com, info@indianbanknotes.com
Tel: +91-80-25591080 / +91-80-25001124
