Scientists from CSIR-National Physical Laboratory have come with a security ink which can prevent fake printing of passports and counterfeiting of currency notes. Press Information Bureau (PIB) informed about this through a tweet, "Discovery of ink to curb fake printing of passports and counterfeiting of currency notes."
National Physical Laboratory has developed a bi-luminescent security ink which glows in red and green colours when illuminated by two different excitation sources at 254 nano meters (nm) and 365 nm, respectively.
The ink was prepared in a batch of 1kg and given to Bank Note Press (BNP), Dewas, a unit of Security Printing Minting Corporation of India Ltd. (SPMCIL), New Delhi.
The ink is found comparable to the standards that are in use. The formulation can be used to check the authenticity of passports, Government documents, tamper evident labels, identity cards, etc.
Minister of Science and Technology, Health and Family Welfare, and Earth Sciences, Dr Harsh Vardhan stated this in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had released the new currency notes with added security features. Despite the added security features, there were reports of new fake notes that have come in circulation. The RBI on its website enumerates a number features which could help people distinguish the real notes from the fake ones.
During 2018-19, out of the total Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICNs) detected in the banking sector, 5.6% were detected at RBI and 94.4% were detected by other banks, said RBI's annual report 2019.
