Government mints told to ramp up coin production

The Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd has ordered its four minting units in Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Noida to work in two shifts to meet the annual demand from the Reserve Bank of India, two people familiar with the matter told ET.

RBI indented 771 crore pieces of coins while sources in the mints said about 650 crore coins have been produced so far this year.

The pace of minting coins slowed since early January when SPMCIL first ordered stoppage of production and subsequently issued resumption order at a slow pace. The stoppage order was revoked when workers sought the finance ministry’s intervention into the matter.


SPMCIL had halted production when RBI slowed down the process of lifting coins from mints because it did not have capacity to store them as its vaults were full with demonetized Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

After the issue come to the fore, the central bank resumed procurement of coins albeit at a slow pace.

Sources in the mint said a formal order from SPMCIL is yet to come. But they have started working in two shifts on verbal notice. SPMCIL, which was formed in 2006 after corporatisation of nine units including four mints, four presses and one paper mill, also allowed workers to work overtime on Saturdays.