3 min readJul 27, 2026 08:03 PM IST
First published on: Jul 27, 2026 at 08:00 PM IST
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) trial of plastic notes will see the introduction of 100 crore pieces of Rs 10 and Rs 20 notes each, worth a total of Rs 3,000 crore, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in response to a question in Lok Sabha on Monday.
Chaudhary said following a recommendation from its central board, the RBI had sent a proposal to the Centre for the field trials “and for regular issuance of polymer banknotes in these two denominations after successful completion of field trials”. The proposal was approved by the government.
The MoS in the finance ministry added that according to the RBI, the polymer banknotes are proposed to be issued along with paper banknotes and “there is no proposal to replace paper currency with polymer substrate-based banknotes”.
The mention of the two denominations of banknotes is the first official confirmation of which notes will be targeted in the RBI’s field trials. On July 17, the Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL) – a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBI – had floated a global tender for 3.4 crore polymer sheets to print banknotes in two denominations. The tender had said the amount was an “immediate requirement” and once field trials were successful, “we intend to go for procurement of larger quantity of substrate across different denominations”.
While notes of Rs 10 and Rs 20 denomination make up almost a quarter of all currency notes in terms of pieces, they account for a mere 1.3% of the value of notes in circulation.
This is the RBI’s second attempt to experiment with plastic notes. In September 2009, it had invited bids to procure 100 crore pieces of Rs 10-notes. These notes were to be introduced for a field trial in Kochi, Mysuru, Shimla, Jaipur and Bhubaneswar — different climatic zones that would test the resilience of the notes.
The trial, however, went nowhere due to “certain technical infirmities”.
First issued by Australia in 1988, plastic banknotes are now used in more than 50 countries and are widely considered to be far superior to paper ones.
“RBI had informed that as per international studies, the life span of polymer banknotes is significantly higher than that of paper banknotes. The introduction of polymer banknotes is currently in a preliminary phase and the impact on digital payments, if any, could be ascertained only after regular issuance of these notes. Moreover, banknotes and digital payment systems are complementary payment tools available to public,” Chaudhary further said in his written response in Lok Sabha on Monday.
The RBI has tightened disclosure norms for deposit interest rates while allowing banks greater flexibility in pricing deposits based on liquidity risks. 
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