Treat currency notes with respect, pleads RBI

For most, Indian currency notes are associated with goddess Lakshmi who represents all forms of wealth. Yet, banknotes are subject to abuse and defacement to such an extent that ensuring supply of good quality notes is one of the biggest headaches for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). A couple of years ago, the central bank won a major victory in preserving currency notes by finally getting banks to stop stapling them into bundles. While banks are directly accountable to the central bank, getting the general public to change their ways is proving to be quite a challenge. RBI has been trying to sort this through coinisation. But the problem with coinisation is that inflation in metal prices has been very sharp in recent years, forcing RBI to increase the base metal component in coins. Another problem with banknotes is that technology-savvy fraudsters and hostile governments have increased the prevalence of fake notes. Between April 2006 and March 2007, 1.04 lakh pieces of fake currency valued at Rs 2.31 crore were detected by banks. This has prompted RBI to increase the level of safety features making printing of new notes costlier than ever before.