New Delhi. India may soon get its first plastic note. Reserve Bank of India is once again going to move forward on its years old idea. If this happens it will be a huge change. At present, paper notes are printed by RBI. This is a special type of paper.
According to the report of Business Standard, the introduction of plastic notes was discussed during the last two board meetings of the Reserve Bank of India. Let us tell you, both these meetings took place in Patna and Mumbai.
Such discussion took place in 2012
Earlier in 2012, the then government was preparing to introduce plastic notes as a pilot project in 5 cities. But then this effort had to be stopped due to some technical challenges.
Why is RBI considering introducing plastic notes?
There can be two big reasons behind this. The first is related to cost. The second big reason is to remain in use for a long time. According to the report, a pilot project of plastic bank notes may soon be announced by RBI.
Shell life is also a major reason behind introducing polymer notes. At present, the shell life of notes made of paper is very short. According to the data, 23.80 billion notes were destroyed in FY 2025. Which is 12.3 percent more on annual basis. A financial year ago, 21.24 billion notes had to be destroyed. Let us tell you, Rs 500 notes and then Rs 100 notes had to be destroyed because they were in bad condition.
How much is RBI spending annually to print notes?
In the financial year 2024-25, the Reserve Bank of India had to spend a total of Rs 6372.80 crore for printing notes. Earlier, Reserve Bank of India had spent Rs 5101.40 crore for printing notes. This means that within just one year, more than Rs 1 crore had to be spent to print the notes.
Demand for cash is still high
According to the data of May 15, 2026, currency worth Rs 42.86 trillion is in circulation. Which is 11.50 percent more on annual basis. Statistics show that after the increase in digital payments, a large number of people are using currency notes.
According to reports, demand for Rs 10 and Rs 20 notes increased. However, as per the notes in circulation, the share of Rs 10 note is only 0.70 percent and the share of Rs 20 note is 0.80 percent of the total notes in circulation.
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