Banknotes sans security thread: Government says matter is serious

NEW DELHI: Government has taken incidents related to banknotes being printed without the security thread "very seriously" and disciplinary action against officials concerned is under way, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said today.

On December 11, 2015, one of the regional offices of RBI disclosed that it had received some banknotes of Rs 1,000 denominations with inset letter 'L' belonging to some particular series without the security thread, Sinha said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

The incident happened in the Hosangabad unit of the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL).

However, the minister said other essential features were present in the banknotes in question.

The defective notes found to be in circulation amounted to Rs 7.56 lakh only. Earlier too, there are instances of some currency notes with a defective security thread printed at the same unit, the minister said.

"The government has taken these incidents very seriously and has instructed SPMCIL to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the officials involved," Sinha said.

Action has been taken to strengthen quality procedure and initiate online inspection system in the manufacturing process.

"Additional inspections have been introduced to ensure defect-free production," he added.