Five months ago GreatGameIndia published a story The Secret World Of Indian Currency Printers (हिन्दी में पढ़ें: विमुद्रीकरण: भारतीय मुद्रा छापनेवालों की रहस्यमयी दुनिया) providing an insight into the foreign firms printing currency notes for India. The story kicked off into a national controversy prompting the press conference by Dilip Pandey, former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and All India Panchayat Parishad exposing the role of #DeLaRue in printing of Indian currency notes and urging the Government to “clear the air on De La Rue connection”. To clear the air on the matter GreatGameIndia itself has under the Right to Information Act filed RTIs and gained first hand information from the printing presses and ministries.
As a result GreatGameIndia received an official notice from the advisory firm Brunswick on behalf of De La Rue regarding our published stories concerning the company. De La Rue made a startling disclosure that the firm “has received no notice nor are we aware that we are blacklisted in India”. De La Rue’s notice and the official GreatGameIndia response can be read here. The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley himself had rejected the charges at the time saying his ministry has no dealings with the British company.
Now in a startling new development and as a direct impact of GreatGameIndia reporting the Government Security Paper Mill (SPM) in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh, has filed a recovery suit of Rs 11 crore against UK-headquartered banknote manufacture De La Rue for allegedly supplying substandard paper for printing Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
As reported by Times of India:
“The paper supplied in 2016 was of inferior quality and the company itself confirmed this after inspection,” said Sushil Goyal, SPM’s lawyer. This supply was made before demonetisation but it couldn’t be immediately confirmed if any of it was meant for the new Rs 500 notes. The case will be heard on March 30, said Goyal.
We would like to remind our readers that it is because of such outsourcing in the past by Indian Govt that a fake currency economy flourished. At the root of the fake currency economy is a British company called De La Rue (advised by Rothschild and JP Morgan – the controlling families of the East India Company with whom the Indian Government deals to this day) and a host of other European companies. De La Rue has been printing our currency notes since before Independence. Sometime during 2009-10 it came to light that it was because of De La Rue that Pakistan was able to print fake Indian currency notes. It was a matter of National Security so De La Rue and other companies were blacklisted and banned by Home Ministry.
However it has come to light that these same companies who were banned and blacklisted because of their links with Pakistan are also involved in the printing of the new Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. Sources in the RBI have told India Today that around 16 million tonne of paper is being imported from the UK. That’s not all, RBI is even sourcing the specialized security thread used in new notes from centres across Italy, Ukraine and UK. The new note that you will have is not completely Indian made.
The same companies have also been contracted to supply polymer note making technology for printing Rs.10 plastic notes as well. What is more is that there are even suggestions being made to outsource the printing of Indian currency notes to foreign countries altogether. Recently Adi Godrej, Chairman of Godrej Group told India Today that “They (Government and RBI) should act and get Indian notes printed outside, there are several bodies that can do that”.
As we reported earlier there are even plans in discussion with De la Rue for setting up of a security paper mill and a research and development centre of identity software in Madhya Pradesh. Now it has come to light that the same blacklisted firm De La Rue has been awarded 10 acres of land in Aurangabad for printing not just Indian but foreign currency notes as well.
Disclosing this to The Quint, Shiv Sena MP Hemant Godse said the agreement was signed six months ago and a 10-acre plot for the proposed plant has been identified at the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) complex in Aurangabad. The currency printing plant will cost an estimated Rs 700 crore, Maharashtra government sources said.
Martin Sutherland the new CEO of De la Rue in an interview titled Giving Make in India the Currency to Succeed with India Investment Journal has said that under the UK-India Defence & International Security Partnership Agreement which was signed in November 2015, De La Rue is committed to supporting both governments on the subject of counterfeiting under this agreement.
What is not known to many Indians is that De la Rue is the same company whose owner Roberto Giori who controlled 90% of the world’s currency-printing business was on the hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 also known as IC 814. And it is believed that a ransom was paid by the Indian Government for the safe release of Roberto Giori. This same company after being blacklisted by Indian Government lost its most valuable customer – the Reserve Bank of India and almost went bankrupt. What is most intriguing is that De la Rue that almost went bankrupt after losing RBI contracts reported a whopping 33.33% rise in its shares in the last six months and was a huge mover the day after the announcement for demonetization was made.
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The Jul-Sept 2016 issue of GreatGameIndia Magazine is dedicated exclusively for the understanding of how international markets work and how exactly it impacts Indian Rupee, published as a special #FinancialWarfare issue.
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The Secret World Of Indian Currency Printers
विमुद्रीकरण: भारतीय मुद्रा छापनेवालों की रहस्यमयी दुनिया
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Blacklisted British Firm De La Rue With Pakistani Links Given 10 Acre Land In India To Print Currency
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