Demonetisation: Know how RBI will destroy close to Rs 23,000 crore banned notes

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: In a major assault on black money and terror financing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 announced demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and asked holders of such notes to deposit them in bank accounts.

The scrapped or banned notes comprise 86 percent of India's currency and is getting replaced with new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 rupee notes.

Close to Rs 23,000 crores banned notes will be accumulated once all the existing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency are being recalled.

These banned currency notes will be destroyed by the Reserve Bank of India through a very interesting process.

Let's have a look at how RBI will destroy the banned notes.

Currency Verification and Processing System

Currency Verification and Processing System (CVPS) is a very efficient way of destroying old currency notes. In 2003, the then RBI Governor Bimal Jalan had introduced the system to push clean note policy.

The currency verification and processing systems have been installed in the Reserve Bank offices for faster and secured processing of soiled currency notes for weeding them out and replacing with fresh ones.

Capacity of CVPS

Each CVPS is capable of processing 50,000 - 60,000 notes per hour. It counts, examines the genuiness of notes, sorts notes into fit and unfit and destroys the unfit notes on-line.

Briquettes

The shreds are on-line transported to a separate briquetting system where they are compressed into briquettes of small size. It is an environment-friendly system, as it does not create pollution that was created by burning of notes in the past.

What happens to these briquettes

The briquettes can be used as residual fuel in industrial furnaces. They can even be used for land fillings or for making items for use at office and home and paperboard.

How many machines are there?

There are 27 shredding and briquetting machines in 19 offices of the RBI. Currency notes which are fit, will be precisely cut and will be recycled into new currency notes.