Ink used for printing currency found missing

New Delhi, Aug 6 (PTI) About five kg of high-security ink
used for printing Indian currency has been found missing from
a consignment on its way to a printing centre in Mysore,
compunding the persisting problem of proliferating fake
currency notes.

Central security agency sources said a consignment of
OVI Intaglio ink was sent from Swiss firm SICPA's unit in
northeastern state of Sikkim to Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note
Mudran in southern city of Mysore.

The consignment, sent in May, contained cans containing
the special ink, used exclusively for printing currency.

But when the consignment reached Mysore on May 30, about
five kg of the ink was found missing, and after that an FIR
was filed with the local police.

Asked about the missing consignment, an official of the
printing press on condition of anonymity said, "About 2-3 cans
were missing from the ink consignment. We are yet to receive
any word from the police about how the ink was pilfered."

Sources said the missing ink consignment is a major
security risk especially at a time when the circulation of
fake notes has become a big problem.

"The Fake Indian Currency Notes now come with better
printing technology and it is difficult to differentiate
between the fakes and the original and hence the missing
consignment of ink is a major problem," a source said.

Sources said the ink costs over Rs one lakh per kg and is
imported.

Incidentally the Swiss company has run into trouble with
security agencies for importing a certain amount of ink using
an allegedly forged duty-free licence.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence last year seized
about 450 kg of OVI Intaglio ink imported by SICPA, a leading
provider of security ink and solutions for banknotes, on the
grounds that the ink's worth far exceeded the value for which
the duty-free import licence was granted.

SICPA, which also supplies currency ink to Pakistan and
the US, besides a host of other countries, had got relief
from the Adjudicating Authority (Commissioner Customs,
Exports), which had ruled that the firm made no mistake.

But, the DRI last month filed an appeal and the matter
has now reached the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate
Tribunal for further hearing.

SICPA had come also under the scanner of the Intelligence
Bureau after it was allegedly found to sell to Pakistan the
same currency ink that was sold to India.

On Monday, Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar chaired a
high-level meeting attended by representatives from the RBI,
Intelligence Bureau, DRI, Enforcement Directorate, CBI,
Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, the Customs and the
paramilitary forces, among others.

At the meeting it was decided that the issue of fake
Indian currency notes (FICN) will be taken up with European
countries that export ink and currency paper to Pakistan, from
where most of the counterfeits originate. PTI SAP
AM
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