Plastic notes were first introduced in Australia to safeguard against counterfeiting of currency.

New Delhi: One billion plastic notes of Rs 10 denomination will be introduced on a field trial basis in five cities in the second half of 2014, Parliament was informed today.

"One billion plastic notes of the denomination of Rs 10 will be introduced in a field trial in five cities selected for their geographical and climatic diversity. These cities are Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Shimla and Bhubaneswar.

"The field trial is expected to be launched in the latter half of 2014," Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

Plastic notes have an average life span of about five years and are difficult to imitate. Also, currency notes made of plastic are cleaner than paper notes.

Plastic notes were first introduced in Australia to safeguard against counterfeiting of currency. Several countries in the West have introduced plastic notes for its advantage over normal notes.

Replying to a separate question, Meena said about 3.33 lakh fake currency notes were seized in 2013 with a face value of Rs 17.64 crore.

In 2012, 6.66 lakh fake notes were seized (face value of Rs 34.58 crore), 7 lakh (face value of Rs 31.46 crore) in 2011 and 5.44 lakh (face value Rs 23.86 crore) in 2010.

The finance ministry, home ministry, RBI, security and intelligence agencies of Central and state governments as well as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are working in tandem to thwart the illegal activities related to fake currencies.

He further said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been empowered to investigate and prosecute offences related to fake currency.

Meena said government has also formed Terror Funding and Fake Currency Cell in NIA to focus on investigations and the legal system has been strengthened to declare smuggling and circulation of high quality fake Indian paper currency, coin or any other material as a terrorist act.

PTI