Government is contemplating the introduction of plastic notes for Rs 10 in the nation and its first step is a field trial on how the notes withstand the weathering in five different cities with varied climates. This was announced by the Minister of State for Finance, Namo Narain Meena, in the Parliament. In the first trial, there would be one billion such notes into the circulation.

"It has been decided by the government and the RBI ( Reserve Bank of India) to introduce one billion pieces of Rs 10 notes in polymer/plastic on a field trial basis," Namo Narain Meena, Finance Minister wrote to Rajya Sabha.

The five cities, Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Bhubhaneswar and Shimla were strategically chosen to include major variations in geographical locations and climatic conditions while being big cities.

Stating the obvious, he said that the primary reason for the new currency was to increase the life of the note in the nation. The added benefit would be that making a counterfeit polymer note is not an easy task. What is yet to be known is the cost effectiveness. Making a Rs 10 currency note would be counter-productive if the cost of making the note itself would exceed the price. It is however understood that the Rs 10 note is a small denomination and would be ideal for testing.

(AW- Anil)