RBI Polymer Plastic Notes: Everything You Need to Know: 14 Questions & Answers

Section 25 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, governs the design, form, and material of bank notes, requiring the Central Government’s approval based on the RBI Central Board’s recommendation

The field trial scale has been explicitly set at one billion pieces for each of the selected denominations (₹10 and ₹20) to ensure a sufficiently large sample size across diverse conditions

Polymer banknotes are manufactured using a clear, non-porous plastic film (typically biaxially oriented polypropylene), fundamentally replacing the traditional cotton-paper mix

The RBI conducts currency field trials in cities representing diverse climatic zones to scientifically measure how environmental stress (heat, humidity, dust) affects the physical degradation of the new substrate

A transparent window is a see-through section of a polymer banknote created by leaving a portion of the clear plastic substrate completely unprinted, serving as a highly effective anti-counterfeiting measure

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), in collaboration with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), invented and issued the world’s first polymer banknotes

The RBI intentionally avoids selecting only major metropolitan hubs, instead choosing specific tier-2 and tier-3 cities that perfectly represent India’s extreme climatic variations

The economic model of currency issuance distinguishes between the “Unit Cost” (cost to print one physical note) and the “Lifecycle Cost” (cost of keeping a denomination in circulation over a decade, including replacement cycles

Tactile features are raised geometric patterns (like lines or dots) printed using heavy intaglio ink on the edges of banknotes to help visually impaired individuals feel the denomination