The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday clarified that reports doing the rounds in certain sections of the media about the central bank considering changes to the existing currency and banknotes by replacing the face of Mahatma Gandhi with that of others is not true.
“It may be noted that there is no such proposal in the Reserve Bank," the central bank said in a statement.
According to the latest circular on Monday, the central bank said that there are reports in certain sections of the media that the Reserve Bank of India is considering changes to the existing currency and banknotes by replacing the face of Mahatma Gandhi with that of others. It may be noted that there is no such proposal in the RBI.
The Father of the Nation’s watermark figure occupies the pride of place on all denominations of Indian currency notes.
According to a report by The New Indian Express, the central bank and the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL) had sent two sample sets of Gandhi, Tagore, and Kalam to IIT-Delhi Emeritus Professor Dilip T Shahani, who is responsible for selecting and submitting watermarks to the government for final approval.
Earlier, several reports claimed that Rabindranath Tagore and India’s 11th President APJ Abdul Kalam are in the race to make it to the country’s banknotes alongside Gandhi.
Meanwhile, RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting led by governor Shaktikanta Das began on Monday and will continue for the next three days. The meeting will end on June 8 (Wednesday) with the announcement of the MPC’s decisions regarding key interest rates, CRR and policy amendments to be made by the RBI governor.