Hologram Industry News

Jersey’s new-look bank notes which will go into circulation in April have been unveiled. The £1, £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes have been redesigned to reflect various aspects of the island’s culture, history and architecture. Each note also has a new image of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Increased security measure have been taken by the treasury to prevent forgeries, including holograms, watermarks and 100% cotton paper.
The hologram only features on notes of higher denomination. Jerriais, the island’s native Norman French, has been included. Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf said he hoped this would help revive the language.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/jersey/8528412.stm

With an aim to provide notes with longer life, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intends to introduce polymer notes in the country. As a measure in this direction, RBI is mulling to implement a pilot project for the new type of notes.

The advantage of polymer notes is that these notes are cleaner than paper notes, easily recyclable, provide greater security against counterfeiting and will last four times as long as conventional paper notes.

“Polymer notes have been introduced in Australia and the RBI is examining a proposal to start a pilot project for introduction of such notes in the country”, said HR Khan, executive director, RBI.

It may be noted, Australia was the first country in the world to have a complete system of bank notes made from plastic (polymer) in 1988. As of 2009, seven countries have converted fully to polymer banknotes including Australia, Bermuda, Brunei, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Romania, and Vietnam. Other countries with notes printed on Guardian polymer in circulation include, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong (for a 2-year trial), Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Singapore, Solomon Islands (no longer issued), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Samoa and Zambia.

Khan, who was here to release the Rs 10 bi-metallic coins on the theme of connectivity and information technology said, “The timing of the pilot project has not been decided and it is likely to be announced soon.”

He said, the average life of a currency note is about six to nine months compared to more than 10 years for the coins. Since coins are the mainstay of various economic activities, the Central bank is promoting the use of coins. The design of the new coin has been prepared by National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and is minted at Noida. RBI has taken a series of measures for supplying good quality notes and to improve the security features of the currencies. Besides, Reserve Bank of India (Note Refund) Rules, 1975 is also proposed to be amended to make the system simple for the people, he added.
Sources: www.rbi.org.in

Despite the increasing use of electronic payments, currency retains an important role in the payment system of every country. However, today, the crime of counterfeiting currency continues to present a potential danger to national economies and financial losses to consumers at large. Recent seizures of large quantities of counterfeit bank notes reported in the press, suggest that, there has been a dramatic increase in the scale of currency counterfeiting in India. Thus, to sustain public confidence in a circulating currency, banknotes must contain features that the public can use to readily judge their authenticity and determine the notes’ denominations.
In this article we study counterfeit money & its threat to society, explore the characteristic of an ideal currency & then examine real world considerations that affect currency design. We also compare and contrast design features in bank notes issued by monetary authorities of various countries, to deter counterfeiting, including India.

History Of Counterfeit Money And Its Effects
Banking in India started as an activity among the European traders, chiefly the East India Company in the early 18th century. The first bank to employ the concept of paper money was a bank set up in Calcutta by Governor Warren Hastings in c. 1770 AD. However, the idea of issuing paper currency by the Government was promulgated by Sir James Wilson, the Finance Member in the Executive Council of the Viceroy, in 1859. Accordingly, an act was passed in 1861, empowering the Government of India to issue currency notes. However, world over, with the invention of a banknote, arose another problem-that of counterfeiting. The crime of counterfeiting currency is as old as money itself. Modern counterfeiting began in 1650 A.D, when paper money was first developed. Initially nations used it as a means of warfare, to overfl ow the enemy’s economy with fake bank notes, so that the real value of the money decreases. However, in the late twentieth century, with the invention of advanced machinery such as color copiers & other electronic devices, counterfeiting became easier and further flourished.
For complete article: download
counterfeit-detterence-currency-design-in-india-abroad.pdf

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