Ten years ago, the face of the Indian rupee changed. Traditional ‘print colors’ have changed to bright colors like orange, pink and blue. After a decade, the face of money is changing again. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is now considering printing plastic notes to cope with the surge in cash demand over the past few years.
According to sources in Delhi, the issue of printing plastic or polymer notes was discussed in the last two board meetings of the Reserve Bank held in Patna and Mumbai. Priority has been given to save the cost of printing notes. Moreover, this decision has been taken keeping in mind that the plastic remains intact for a long time. It may be announced soon.
“Polymer banknotes are much more profitable when the cost of printing paper notes is taken into account,” Business Standard quoted a Reserve Bank source as saying. Polymer-based banknotes can also be dispensed at ATMs. Currently, India has the capacity to implement this plan.
Polymer notes are made of a special type of plastic. Such notes are called plastic money or plastic notes. This is especially true of biaxially oriented polypropylene synthetic plastics, which are used to make thin, transparent and flexible seats. The transparent seat is coated with paint. The latter is designed. Such notes are not easily torn or damaged.
As per estimates, Rs 6,372.8 crore has been spent on printing paper notes in the fiscal year 2024-25. 5101.4 crore in FY 2023-24. In 2025, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report says that the cost of printing notes will increase due to increased demand.
The Reserve Bank feels that polymers should be used to increase the durability of notes. This is because paper notes deteriorate quickly due to such usage. They are largely destroyed. According to statistics, by 2025, 23.8 billion obsolete paper notes will have to be scrapped. In 2025, that number was 21.24 billion, or 12.3 percent in 2025 and obsolete notes had to be scrapped. Most of the scrapped paper notes were Rs 500 notes. 100 rupee note is in second place.
It is also clear that regardless of the importance given to digital transactions, the demand for cash in the market is increasing rather than decreasing. As of May 15, there are 4,286,000 crore coins in the market, the highest ever. In the first half of the financial year 2026-27, the volume of currency in the market increased to Rs 110,000 crore.
This shows that even in the age of digital transactions, the demand for cash is continuously increasing. The demand for Rs 10 and Rs 20 notes has increased in the last few years. But the amount of low value notes did not increase by that amount. In the last two years, the total market share of Rs 10 notes was 0.7 per cent and Rs 20 notes 0.8 per cent. The Reserve Bank also introduced Rs 10 and Rs 20 notes. However, the use of currency did not increase as much. In 2024, 1.2 billion coins were supplied. In 2025, it will increase to Rs 1.5 billion. Of these, the Rs 5 coin is worth Rs 80 crore and the Rs 20 coin is worth Rs 40 crore.
However, this is not the first thought of introducing plastic or polymer notes. In 2012, the then UPA government decided to introduce notes made of polymer material on an experimental basis. In the first phase, the idea of introducing a polymer-based note of Rs 100 crore was taken up. But this idea was adopted not to prevent counterfeit notes, but to increase the stability of the currency. However, it was not implemented at that time due to technical limitations. Over time, those technical limitations have been overcome. ATMs are now able to recognize plastic or polymer notes.
Polymer-based banknotes are in use in 60 countries around the world. In 1988, Australia introduced the first polymer-based notes. Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia followed suit. In 1998, Romania introduced polymer-based banknotes for the first time in Europe. Canada followed suit in 2011. American dollars are made of a special cotton-linen blend. Now, India is also mulling to introduce polymer-based notes.