RBI to trial polymer currency notes, subsidiary floats global tender
Polymer notes are more durable than paper notes and more difficult to counterfeit. In 2025-26, the RBI spent Rs 4,875 crore to print currency notes, with the number of fake notes detected rising to 2.3 lakh pieces.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to trial polymer currency notes, with the Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL) on Friday floating a global tender for polymer sheets that will be used to print currency notes at its own presses and that of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL).
While BRBNMPL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBI, SPMCIL is a public sector undertaking. The former designs, manufactures, and supplies banknotes. SPMCIL prints them too along with stamp papers, stamps, and other documents such as passports that require security features.
The BRBNMPL tender calls for bids for 68,000 reams – one ream comprises 500 sheets – of so-called Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene-based Opacified Polymer Substrate with security features to print the banknotes. The last date to submit bids is August 18.
The tender document said 34,000 reams will be used in the printing of one denomination of notes. As such, the trial will comprise two denominations of notes.
The RBI did not respond to an e-mail seeking comments on the details of the trial.
“The indicative requirement in this EOI is meant for immediate requirement. Once our field trials is successful, we intend to go for procurement of larger quantity of substrate across different denominations and the same is likely to be shared in the upcoming RFP/Final tender or in future tenders which shall follow this EOI (Expression of Interest),” the tender document said.
It added that bidders must ensure that their operations in Pakistan or China, if any, must be “suitably firewalled” from those in India. No raw materials used to make the India-specific polymer sheets should be procured from China or Pakistan.
Further, a declaration will have to be made that no employee of the bidder who has previously worked or been posted in Pakistan or China, in any capacity, will be engaged for the current procurement process. Pakistani and Chinese nationals or persons of Pakistani or Chinese origin are not to be engaged by bidders for the project.
The tender comes after RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra had said at the post-monetary policy press conference on June 5 that a proposal on polymer notes was “currently under consideration”, although no decision had been taken.
“We are examining the pros and cons of it and whether, you know, it will be worthwhile to do it. It is still at a preliminary stage,” Malhotra had said.
First issued by Australia in 1988, polymer banknotes are now used in more than 50 countries and are widely considered to be far superior to paper notes. A polymer note can last anywhere between two to six times longer than a paper note, which means it has a lower environmental impact. A longer life means fewer polymer notes need to be manufactured and distributed.
According to British firm De La Rue, which supplies notes to more than half of all central banks, polymer notes are cleaner, wipe clean easily, can be recycled, and more secure as most counterfeit notes are produced on paper. As such, counterfeit rates have fallen in countries where currency notes are made of polymer.
In 2025-26, the RBI spent Rs 4,875 crore to print currency notes. More than 17,000 crore Indian currency notes – worth Rs 41 lakh crore – were in circulation as on March 31, 2026. Last year, the RBI supplied 2,810 crore pieces of notes.
The number of counterfeit notes detected last year rose to 2.3 lakh pieces, up from 2.17 lakh in 2024-25.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to trial polymer currency notes, with the Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL) on Friday floating a global tender for polymer sheets that will be used to print currency notes at its own presses and that of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL).
While BRBNMPL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBI, SPMCIL is a public sector undertaking. The former designs, manufactures, and supplies banknotes. SPMCIL prints them too along with stamp papers, stamps, and other documents such as passports that require security features.
The BRBNMPL tender calls for bids for 68,000 reams – one ream comprises 500 sheets – of so-called Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene-based Opacified Polymer Substrate with security features to print the banknotes. The last date to submit bids is August 18.
The tender document said 34,000 reams will be used in the printing of one denomination of notes. As such, the trial will comprise two denominations of notes.
The RBI did not respond to an e-mail seeking comments on the details of the trial.
“The indicative requirement in this EOI is meant for immediate requirement. Once our field trials is successful, we intend to go for procurement of larger quantity of substrate across different denominations and the same is likely to be shared in the upcoming RFP/Final tender or in future tenders which shall follow this EOI (Expression of Interest),” the tender document said.
It added that bidders must ensure that their operations in Pakistan or China, if any, must be “suitably firewalled” from those in India. No raw materials used to make the India-specific polymer sheets should be procured from China or Pakistan.
Further, a declaration will have to be made that no employee of the bidder who has previously worked or been posted in Pakistan or China, in any capacity, will be engaged for the current procurement process. Pakistani and Chinese nationals or persons of Pakistani or Chinese origin are not to be engaged by bidders for the project.
The tender comes after RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra had said at the post-monetary policy press conference on June 5 that a proposal on polymer notes was “currently under consideration”, although no decision had been taken.
“We are examining the pros and cons of it and whether, you know, it will be worthwhile to do it. It is still at a preliminary stage,” Malhotra had said.
First issued by Australia in 1988, polymer banknotes are now used in more than 50 countries and are widely considered to be far superior to paper notes. A polymer note can last anywhere between two to six times longer than a paper note, which means it has a lower environmental impact. A longer life means fewer polymer notes need to be manufactured and distributed.
According to British firm De La Rue, which supplies notes to more than half of all central banks, polymer notes are cleaner, wipe clean easily, can be recycled, and more secure as most counterfeit notes are produced on paper. As such, counterfeit rates have fallen in countries where currency notes are made of polymer.
In 2025-26, the RBI spent Rs 4,875 crore to print currency notes. More than 17,000 crore Indian currency notes – worth Rs 41 lakh crore – were in circulation as on March 31, 2026. Last year, the RBI supplied 2,810 crore pieces of notes.
The number of counterfeit notes detected last year rose to 2.3 lakh pieces, up from 2.17 lakh in 2024-25.
