Govt OKs RBI proposal for field trial of small-value polymer notes
This story was originally published at 19:25 IST on 27 July 2026
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NEW DELHI – The government has approved the Reserve Bank of India's proposal to introduce polymer banknotes for field trial, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said Monday. Initially, one billion polymer banknotes of denominations INR 10 and INR 20 will be rolled out, the minister told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
After successful completion of the field trials, polymer notes of these two denominations will be issued regularly, Chaudhary said. The introduction of polymer banknotes is "currently in a preliminary phase", the minister said when asked about its likely impact on the digital payments system. "...the impact on digital payments, if any, could be ascertained only after regular issuance of these notes," he said. "Moreover, banknotes and digital payment systems are complementary payment tools available to public."
According to the RBI, polymer banknotes are proposed to be issued along with paper substrate-based banknotes. "There is no proposal to replace paper currency with polymer substrate-based banknotes," Chaudhary said. The life span of polymer notes is "significantly higher" than that of paper banknotes, as suggested by international studies.
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra had, on Jun. 5, said a proposal to introduce polymer currency notes was under consideration. The central bank had sent a proposal to the government under section 25 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. End
Reported by Shweta
Edited by Rajeev Pai
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