As we all know every nation has its one fiat currency which is printed and minted in a centralized printing house owned by the government.
It is worth noting that every currency that is in circulation carries its own value and has been minted/ printed by investing some amount, as per some data sources the coins of Indian currency in circulation are minted by spending more than their actual cost.
In response to a filed RTI (Right to Information), the Reserve Bank of India said that the minting cost of a one-rupee coin is 1 rupee and 11 paise.
It is crucial to note that this is the same for almost all the coins in circulation in India. A two-rupee coin costs one rupee and twenty-eight paisa, a five-rupee coin costs 3 rupees and sixty-nine paise, and a ten-rupee coin costs five rupees and fifty-four paise at the National Bank of India.
Are coins more costly to produce than notes in India?
Two centralized production units of these coins are based in Hyderabad and Mumbai, operating under Indian Government Mints (IGM). The process of minting and printing currency is largely divided between the government of India and the Reserve Bank of India.
The one rupee coins of India are designed with a dimension of 21.93 mm in diameter, 1.45 mm in thickness, and a weight of 3.76 grams. The metal used in the designing and production of these coins is stainless steel, which is considered one of the most costly metals worldwide.
Currently, the responsibility of printing one rupee note and the minting of coins is solely held by the Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India held the process of printing notes of 2 rupees to 500 rupees. The RBI also printed the now discontinued denomination of two thousand rupee notes.
A data source in the previous year told a media outlet that the government of India spent 4.18 rupees to print 2000 rupees notes, the note of Rs. 500 cost 2. 57 rupees, around 1.51 rupees are used to print a hundred rupee note and nearly 1.01 paise is utilized in making a note of 10 rupees.
According to an April 2024 report by the Financial Times, the currency in circulation in India has grown from ₹13.35 lakh crore in March 2017 to ₹35.15 lakh crore by the end of March 2024.
This skyrocketing surge occurred despite the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) take to withdraw ₹2000 denomination banknotes in May 2023, withdrawal, 97.83 percent of the ₹3.56 lakh crore worth of these notes were returned to the finance system.
Although India is a global leader in digital transactions, the circulation of physical currency has more than doubled over the past eight years. RBI quotes that, since the demonetization of ₹500 and ₹1000 notes in 2016, the volume of currency in circulation has grown considerably.
