Indian Currency Now Travels from Press to ATM in Mere 6 Days - Important

A 15-member team formed by the Reserve Bank of India - including managed service providers, ATM manufacturers and cash logistics firms - monitors and facilitates the recalibration and replenishment of cash machines across India.

The intensive efforts have shortened the time from printing to ATMs to 6 days from previous 3 weeks.

Officers on the ground report the progress to their zonal office, which sends the information to the head office.

Long Queues Outside Banks and ATMs Have Become a Common Sight
  • The head office collates the data and passes it on to the war room.
  • Each team on the ground is given a route, and it works on all the ATMs on that route. Typically, each route has 15 - 20 ATMs.

Money Process

  • Producing 2,300 crore pieces to replace the scrapped currency may take up to 6 months.
  • The capacity of all note printing presses together is 300 crore notes per month.
  • Printing smaller denomination notes like ₹ 100 or ₹ 500 instead of ₹ 2000 would take 5 times more time.

The Primary Step

RBI projects requirement of currency notes based on:

  • circulation of notes
  • GDP growth
  • use of electronic payments.

In consultation with the government, orders are placed with the presses.

Currency Paper

The high-security banknote paper designed, produced, and supplied by currency paper mills in Mysuru and Hoshangabad, which together produce 18,000 metric tonnes of notepaper annually. Banknote paper can also be imported.

Security Features

Some embedded security features, such as the multi-tonal, three-dimensional watermark, micro lettering, and security threads are incorporated in Mysuru and Hoshangabad. An R&D team works constantly to review and improve security features

Printing

Once the security paper is ready, it is sent to the four note printing presses at Mysuru, Salboni, Dewas and Nashik, where additional security features are added.

Cutting

Notes printed in sheets before being telescopically numbered, cut. There are 100 notes in a packet, 10 packets in a bundle. There are 40 ₹ -2,000 notes in each sheet.

Transfer of Money

Once printed, the notes moved from RBI and to the coffers of commercial banks, with security arranged by state governments⟋police.

ATM Loading

8,800 vans of seven registered cash logistics firms carry cash to ATMs. The machines have four cassettes for notes of different denominations, which are currently being recalibrated for the new currency sizes.

Cash Now Flies

To ferry cash to particularly remote areas such as some places in the Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir, helicopters or fixed wing aircraft may be used. Typically, in a remote area, an ATM needs to be loaded only once in 6 days.

Examrace Team at Aug 27, 2021