India has invited bids from manufacturers to supply polymer substrate sheets with security features suitable for printing of Indian banknotes.
The Reserve Bank of India’s currency-printing arm on Friday sought global expressions of interest for the polymer sheets that will be used to print currency notes at its own presses as well as that of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India. Bids are due by Aug. 18.
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra last month said polymer bank notes are under consideration, but only at a preliminary stage. The move marks the clearest step yet toward testing plastic currency that could eventually replace some paper notes.
The initial requirement is for about 68,000 reams of biaxially oriented polypropylene-based substrate, split across two denominations. Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Pvt. Ltd. said if field trials are successful, it intends to procure larger quantities across additional denominations through future tenders.
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Bloomberg news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.