Two senior officials posted at Security Paper Mill (SPM) in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh were suspended on Friday over production of millions of defective Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes.
Around 80,000 defective Rs 500 notes and 10,000 defective Rs 1,000 notes produced by the mill have already hit the market, triggering panic among citizens. Security threads are missing in these notes, said an official at Hoshangabad mill. The magnetic security thread with inscriptions 'Bharat' and 'RBI' is the most distinguishing feature in an Indian currency note and prevents counterfeiting.
A shocked RBI asked banks to replace such notes when customers approach them. The notes are genuine, but defective. A five-member team has been constituted by Union finance ministry to launch a high-level inquiry into the matter. The team reached SPM on Friday morning.
NBNPL, also known as PM5, was recently inaugurated by finance minister Arun Jaitley. It has a capacity to produce 6000 MT paper for printing currency notes of Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations.
Establishment of NBNPL was considered a major step in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make In India' Initiative as it had capacity of producing currency note paper indigenously.
Introduced in year 2000, the 1000-rupee notes contain a readable, security thread alternately visible in front with inscriptions 'Bharat' (in Hindi), '1000' and 'RBI'. This thread was missing in those notes.
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