While SPMCIL is under the Finance Ministry, where the boss is Arun Jaitley, the Mysuru (Karnataka) and Salboni (West Midnapore in West Bengal) printing presses are run and operated by the RBI’s wholly-owned subsidiary Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Ltd (BRBNML). The Mysuru and Salboni high-security currency printing presses are in the process of producing the new Rs 2,000 note at a combined rate of 40 million pieces (20 + 20, respectively).

A former RBI deputy governor, who retired a few months before the Modi government and the newly-appointed central bank Governor Urjit Patel set their sights on the now-controversial demonetisation exercise, disclosed to The Quint that the rate of printing of the new Rs 500 note was “very low at only 5 million pieces per day at Nashik and Dewas, where the machinery was outdated”.

At this rate, the printing of the new Rs 500 note would take 10 months, the former RBI deputy governor said, adding that “the Modi government not only acted in haste, but consulted very few officials who had no idea or knowledge of the Herculean task before them”.