Mumbai: With a view to effectively deal with increasing circulation of banknotes, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to set up an Automated Banknote Processing Centre (ABPC) in Jaipur for receipt, storage and dispatch of currency notes. The functions of the ABPC will also include processing of banknotes received from currency chests (CCs) and bank branches, and destruction of soiled banknotes in an automated manner, said the RBI's Request for Proposal (RFP) for engagement of consultant.
"The proposed ABPC is expected to provide for storage and dispatch of fresh banknotes and storage and processing of soiled banknotes to/from the identified CCs/bank branches covering the jurisdiction of the states being catered," the document said.
It has also projected storage capacity requirements for the ABPC in Jaipur -- fresh note stock (daily average) at 1,883 million pieces during 2024-25, 2,950 million pieces during 2029-30 and 6,853 million pieces during 2039-40.
The volume of banknotes available for use has expanded three-overlay from March 2001 to March 2019, and is required to rise further in the years to come. Plus, supply of banknotes by the presses has expanded around multiple times from March 2001 to March 2019 and is relied upon to build manifolds.
RBI is supplied with banknotes from four printing presses and coins from four mints. The new banknotes and coins are received at 19 issue offices of the bank located across the country from where these are further distributed to about 3,300 CCs operated by scheduled banks under an agency agreement with the RBI.