New Delhi. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to overhaul its currency management infrastructure in the next 4-5 years. The initiative aims to ensure adequate storage and management capacity to meet the future cash needs of the growing economy. According to a Reserve Bank document, modernization of the existing infrastructure includes creation of state-of-the-art currency management centers, introduction of warehouse automation, installation of security and monitoring systems, a reserves management system and a centralized control center.
RBI has invited expressions of interest (EOI) to provide consulting and project management services for modernization of currency management infrastructure. According to this, the expected timeline for the entire project is 4-5 years. The document states, “Despite the slowdown in the growth rate of NIC (paper currency in circulation) in the last three years, the analysis indicates that the growth will remain positive in the near future. However, its pace is expected to slow down in the next decade.”
The central bank said that the trend of growth in volume is expected to continue, and this rate may be faster. This has to be done so that the value needs of the public can be met adequately and in a convenient manner. NIC has grown significantly in terms of volume and value over the last two decades. NIC in terms of volume was 136.21 billion (BPC) as on March 31, 2023 and 146.87 BPC as on March 31, 2024. Coins in circulation (CIC) have also increased in terms of volume and value.
