Have you ever wondered how much it costs to print the notes you use? An RTI report has revealed how much RBI spends on printing these notes. Along with this, in this RTI report, RBI has told that since demonetisation, about Rs 5000 crore has been spent in the printing of notes. One reason for this is also that after demonetisation, 500 and 1000 rupee notes were discontinued and in their place new 500 and 2000 rupee notes were issued.
According to the information, the exact cost of printing 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 2000 rupee notes varies greatly. Moreover, with rising input costs, the cost of printing notes is increasing every year, making the distribution of notes costly for the central bank. There has been a marginal increase in the selling price of Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100 and Rs 2022 notes in the financial year 2021-22. However, the cost of selling of Rs 500 did not change, while the price came down to Rs 10 from last year’s price.
According to information obtained by The Hindu Businessline through a Right to Information (RTI) from Reserve Bank of India Note Mudran Limited (BRBNML), the sale price of Rs 10 denomination notes was Rs 960 for 1000 pieces. So the cost of a 10 rupee note was around 96 paise. Similarly, the selling cost of Rs 20 notes was Rs 950 per 100 pieces, which means that the cost of a Rs 20 note was 95 paise, which is 10 paise less than the cost of Rs 10 note.
Know how much it costs to print different notes
Here is the information being given as to how much the printing cost per 1000 pieces notes is for different notes. According to information received from RTI, Rs 1,130 has been spent on printing 1000 notes of 50 rupees. On the other hand, Rs 1770 has been spent for Rs 100 notes, Rs 2370 for Rs 200 notes. Apart from this, a cost of Rs 2290 has been incurred on the printing of 1000 notes of 500 rupees.
Printing of these notes is expensive
According to the data, RBI had to pay Rs 1,130 in the last financial year for printing one thousand notes of Rs 50 denomination. Similarly, the cost of Rs 100 was Rs 1,770 in the previous session. Similarly, printing of Rs 10, Rs 200 and Rs 500 notes is also expensive. However, the data on printing of 2000 rupee notes is not available since 2018-19.
5000 crores spent after demonetisation
In the financial year 2021-22, RBI spent Rs 4,984.8 crore on security printing of banknotes purchased from printing presses. This was about 25% less than the expenditure in the previous period. At the same time, till now the maximum amount of Rs 8,000 crore was spent in printing during the 2016-17 season.
Four printing presses in the country
There are four printing presses in India, two of which are owned by BRBNML, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India. While the remaining two are owned by the central government, it is operated through its wholly owned company India Limited (SPMCIL) Security Printing and Mint Corporation.
