Banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi series-2005 are to carry inset letter 'L' on both number panels
The Reserve Bank of India has decided to issue a new note of Rs 10 denomination with enhanced security features for circulation. The RBI today said the banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi series-2005 are to carry inset letter 'L' on both number panels, bearing the signature of Governor Urjit Patel.
News agency Press Trust of India said that the year of printing, 2017, will be on the reverse of the note. Among other features, numerals on both the panels will be in ascending size from left to right. The first three alpha-numeric characters (prefix) will remain constant in size.
"All the banknotes in the denomination of Rs 10 issued by the Bank in the past will continue to be legal tender," the Reserve Bank said in a notification.
This development comes months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision to demonetise high-value currency notes of 500 and 1,000-rupee notes on November 8, which wiped out 86 per cent of the currency in circulation at that time. The centre, however, decided to issue new notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000.
The implementation and circulation of new notes by the RBI, however, was criticised by political opponents.
PM Modi's demonetisation drive was also vociferously criticised by opposition parties. Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, in a parliamentary speech, called the step as
"organised loot and legalised plunder". His words were echoed by his colleagues in the Congress, including Deputy Leader of Opposition Anand Sharma and former
Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
However, despite criticism and warnings of slow growth rate by renowned economists including Amartya Sen, the
Gross Domestic Product in the third quarter of the 2016-17 financial year (between October and December) grew by seven per cent.