Watermark images of Tagore and Kalam might be used on banknotes: RBI
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NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Finance Ministry are reportedly thinking about using watermark images of Indian figures like Bengal's greatest icons, Rabindranath Tagore, and India's 11th President, APJ Abdul Kalam, also known as the Missile Man, along with MK Gandhi on the country's banknotes. Currently, the Father of the Nation's watermark figure is the only one that is present on the bank notes while the new images of Tagore and Kalam on a new series of banknotes of some denominations. This will be the first time that RBI is considering the usage of watermark images of other personalities than Gandhi on the banknotes.
It is understood that the RBI and the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL) under the Ministry of Finance have sent two different set of samples of Gandhi, Tagore and Kalam watermarks to Professor Dilip T Shahani, IIT-Delhi Emeritus professor to select from the two and present it to the government for final consideration.
According to the government sources, the ultimate decision on the selection of one or all three images would be taken at the "highest level". Additionally, the sources have informed that there was official approval for designing of the watermark samples. Although no firm decision has been made yet, the move to explore the possibility of incorporating multiple watermarks into currency notes is in progress.
Globally, there has been precedence: in the US, dollars of different denominations carry images of the Founding Fathers such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Alexander Hamilton and a few presidents from the 19th century, including Abraham Lincoln.
Professor Shahani, who specialises in Electromagnetic Instrumentation, is tasked with the examination of the watermarks. In January this year, he was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Central government.
In 2017, one of the nine RBI internal committees set up to recommend new security features for new notes submitted its report by 2020, according to top government sources. The committee report put forward the proposal to include watermark images of other figures like Tagore and Kalam in all currency notes except the Rs. 2000 note which has stopped printing.
The New Indian Express reported that in 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) instructed the Mysore-based Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Pvt Ltd and the SPMCIL's Security Paper Mill at Hoshangabad to design their own set of watermark samples. Subsequently, RBI and SPMCIL sent samples to Shahani for testing. Shahani has had several rounds of discussions with officials about the "subtle aspects" of the samples.