RBI Defends Quality Of Newly Printed Notes, Says At Par With Best Globally

The Reserve Bank of India on Friday said that it had maintained the quality of currency notes “well within the various tolerance parameters for dimension, placement of design, print features, etc,” and that its currency printing presses were state-of-the-art and at par with the best practices adopted globally. RBI's clarification came after the opposition Congress alleged that the central bank was printing two types of Rs 500 notes. The RBI is busily printing new 2,000 and 5,00 rupee currency notes post-demonetisation, which banned Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, taking about 86 per cent of the country's currency out of circulation.

"The currency printing presses are equipped with state of the art machinery, documented systems and technically qualified personnel through which quality control is ensured at each stage of banknote production," RBI said in a statement on its website. 

RBI said it had integrated systems in place for inspection of each note at high speed which validate security features and print quality of the notes. 

While the RBI rarely receives complaints from the public on banknotes with features beyond the acceptable tolerance level, “a standard operating procedure is in place for dealing with such rare cases wherein each such note is examined and corrective steps taken, if necessary,” the RBI said.
 
“Labs with specialized paper and ink testing facilities, which verifies the specification parameters are available in the presses,” RBI added.