Finance minister launches first colured souvenir coin in India

Tags: Economics/Business

Finance Minister Mrs Nirmala Sithraman  launched the first  colour souvenir coin on “Panchtantra” on 11 Feburary 2022 during the 17 th foundation day of the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL).

Concept clearing 

Coins are issued in India by the government of India under the Coinage act 1906( last amended in 2011). 

• The Government of India has the right to mint coins of 50 Paise to upto Rs 1000.

• The circulation of Coins in the market is done by the Reserve Bank of India. Coins to the Reserve Bank of India are provided by the Government of India .

• Coins  upto 50 paise are called 'small coins' and coins of Rupee one and above are called 'Rupee Coins'. 

The Coins are minted by the Government of India at 

• Mumbai, 

• Alipore(Kolkata),

•  Hyderabad  and

•  NOIDA (UP).

Commemorative Coins 

Commemorative coins are released to mark some special events.

Commemorative coins sport a distinct design to talk about the occasion on which they are issued.  

They are  normally not issued for circulation purposes but for collection purposes Unless the government notifies ,it is not a legal tender .

The first commemorative coin in India was issued in 1964 with the image of Jawaharlal Nehru, to commemorate his birth anniversary.

 Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL).

It was set up in 2006 under the administrative control of the Union Finance Ministry. Its headquarters is at New Delhi 

SPMCIL was set up by the government of India to bring all its production units engaged in minting of coins, production of security papers and currency notes printing units under one company.

SPMCIL includes the following units 

 4 Coin minting units , where coins are  minted ;

•   Indian Government Mint Mumbai,

• Indian Government Mint Hyderabad (Telangana) 

• Indian Government Mint Kolkata (West Bengal) 

• Indian Government Mint Noida (Uttar Pradesh) 

 Currency Notes Press ,where currency notes are printed: 

• Currency Notes Press(CNP), Nashik ( Maharashtra)

• Bank Note Press(BNP) ,Dewas (Madhya Pradesh)   

Security Printing Press

• India Security Press (ISP), Nashik (Maharstara) , It is the only organisation in India which prints Passports and other travel documents for the government of India .

• Security Printing Press (SPP),Hyderabad (Telangana), It is engaged in the supply of security documents such as postal stationery items,Central excise stamps ,Non-Judicial Stamps,Court Fee Stamps, Indian Postal Orders etc. 

Security Paper mill 

Security Paper Mill, Narmadapuram ( Madhya Pradesh ) is the only paper mill in the country which produces high quality Bank Note and other Security Papers.

 Papers manufactured by this unit are used for printing of currency notes by CNP, Nashik & BNP, Dewas and for Non-Judicial Stamps being printed by ISP, Nashik & SPP, Hyderabad.