Chennai: A Chinese company claims to have won contracts for currency production in countries that include India, according to Chinese media reports. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), however, dismissed such claims.
The article which was published in the South China Morning Post says State-run China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation highlights that China is printing foreign currencies on a huge scale, as Beijing seeks to increase its influence on the world economy and geopolitics.
The article titled ‘Why other countries are giving China a licence to print money’, it has been highlighted that India, along with several other countries, has allowed China’s state-owned firms to print India’s currency.
RBI Sources Refute ClaimsTerming the reports on China printing India’s currency as ‘baseless’. Secretary of Department of Economic Affairs, Subhash Chandra Garg, issued a clarification on Monday, saying that no other country is involved in printing Indian currency.
“The reports about any Chinese currency-printing corporation getting any orders for printing Indian currency notes are totally baseless. Indian currency notes are being and will be printed only in Indian government and RBI currency presses,” Garg stated on behalf of the Finance Ministry.
RBI sources had clarified that the reports of licensed printing of Indian currency in the South China Morning Post were false. The central bank did not, however, dismiss chances of the Chinese state-run company forging Indian currency. RBI is yet to make a public statement on the report.
Guisheng-led China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation, the article claims, has seized number of opportunities for currency production projects, specifically.
Apart from India, the report cites instances of Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Brazil and Poland awarding contract to China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation amidst a huge spike in currency demand from countries.
The report says, “most of the demand comes from participants in the Belt and Road Initiative,” although India has never been and never wants to be part of China’s Belt and Road initiative.
The news report claims that China sees printing foreign currencies as an opportunity to increase Beijing’s “influence on the world economy and geopolitics”.