Reserve Bank of
India to set up Automated Banknote Processing Centre (ABPC), @ Mumbai
Reserve Bank of India having its Head
Office Mumbai intends set up APBC in Mumbai.
The first step towards this was taken
with release of EOI document.
The seed of the ABPC can be traced to
RBI’s Annual Report released on 29th August, 2018.
Automation of the entire banknote
processing cycle, finds mention in the Expert Group report submitted by
Chairman: Shri C. Krishnan, former Executive Director.
The
expert group was set up to conduct an audit of the entire gamut of note
printing and all its attendant processes.
One
of the key recommendations of the expert group is the automation of the entire
banknote processing cycle.
The
EOI Document seeks to select an Entity for Comprehensive Consultancy Services
for establishment of Automated Banknote Processing Centre (ABPC), Mumbai
The
Reserve Bank of India intends to establish an Automated Banknote Processing
Centre.
The
Bank therefore invites Expression of Interest (EOI) from qualified and capable
firms / agencies / companies of repute to provide comprehensive consultancy
services for empanelment of consultants for the proposed work.
The scope of work will involve visiting the
site and its surroundings, studying the Bank’s existing procedures/processes
and understanding the requirements, preparing a detailed project report
comprising estimates on cost and timeline, sketch designs of the project
including design basis report for the building, services such as structural,
MEP, Automation including system integration, logistics, security, etc. shall
be furnished to the Bank.
The scope of work further includes
designing the automation process adopting the latest relevant technologies and
works available worldwide, with suitable customisation to local conditions /
laws, to the requirements and satisfaction of the Bank.
The detailed scope of work will be
indicated in the RFP.
Reserve Bank of India is the sole issuer of
bank notes / currency of the country in terms of the provisions of the Reserve
Bank of India Act, 1934.
Reserve Bank of India is responsible for
management of currency in all its aspects –issuance, distribution, ensuring
availability of clean and fit notes in adequate amounts and retrieval of unfit
notes from circulation and destruction thereof.
Reserve Bank of India is supplied with
banknotes from four printing presses and coins from four Mints.
The new bank notes and coins minted are
received at nineteen Issue Offices of Reserve
the Bank across the country from where these are further distributed to over
3800 currency chests operated by banks under an agency agreement with the Bank.
The currency chests act as store houses and
currency stored thereat is distributed to various bank branches / ATM network
through cash in Transit companies for eventual distribution to the public.
The banknotes which are soiled and not fit for
circulation are withdrawn by banks and deposited into the currency chests from
where the Bank collects such notes at its 19 Issue offices.
The notes received in the Issue offices of
the Bank and chests are subject to several verification processes both manual
and automated.
In particular, the unfit notes withdrawn
from circulation are verified through a computerised Currency verification and
Processing Systems (CVPS) and destroyed by shredding.
All the activities along the entire chain
of distribution are undertaken under tight security for obvious reasons with
the assistance of state security agencies.
World-wide, the central banks have been facing
multiple challenges in currency management; due to increase in the volume of
banknotes printed, handled and processed as also due to increasing costs
associated in handling, transporting and processing these banknotes.
To address the issue of increasing volume
of banknotes, many central banks have proactively adopted suitable
re-engineering of their currency management processes and have set up separate
facilities to automate handling of banknotes for its receipt, storage, retrieval
and processing.
These countries have since reaped economic
benefits due to automated handling and processing of banknotes, brought about
efficiency in operations, ensured process integrity and improved security.
These countries include France, Germany, USA,
Japan, Hungary, etc.
Cash remains an important mode of payment
for the most Indian citizens notwithstanding the growth in digital payments.
In fact, the banknotes in circulation have
been concurrently growing with the rise in digital payments.
Further, with the increase in banknotes in
circulation and notes being supplied by printing presses, commensurate increase
in the requirement for soiled notes processing is expected.
The increase in volume of banknotes likely
to be handled by the Bank in future is expected to create stress in the system
with possible rise in instances of deficiencies in operations.
This has necessitated a relook at the
present system of cash management and a need is felt to automate the handling of
banknotes for receipt, storage, retrieval and processing in line with the
global changes adopting modern technology.
Establishment
of an Automated Banknote Processing Centre (ABPC)
The
Bank, with a view to address the above-mentioned challenges, has proposed to
establish
a green field Automated Banknote Processing Centre (ABPC).
The
indicative activities to be performed at the ABPC are –
•
Automated Receipt and storage of fresh banknotes received from the printing
presses, automated
retrieval and despatch of the fresh banknotes to the identified Issue Offices (IOs)/
Currency Chests (CC) in the jurisdiction of IOs;
•
Receipt, storage, retrieval, processing and destruction of soiled banknotes
received
from
the CCs in an automated manner;
•
Automated handling, receipt, storage, retrieval, despatch, processing and
destruction
of
banknotes – fresh and soiled banknotes;
•
Identification of mutilated / counterfeit notes during processing of the
banknotes on
Currency
Verification and Processing System (CVPS) machines, online and offline
destruction
and briquetting of soiled banknotes in a mechanised and secure manner;
•
Recirculation of re-issuable notes identified during processing of banknotes,
if any;
•
Accounting, reconciliation and report generation of the banknotes received, despatched,
processed and destroyed for future analysis;
The centre will have a robust Business
Continuity Management (BCM)/ Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) and risk management
framework to mitigate / manage all the associated risks including State of the
art systems to ensure security of the banknotes and ensure integrity of the
process.
The ABPC will ensure safety at work - for
its staff as also for the banknotes stored.
At ABPC, IT systems and logistical tools
shall guide the automation process.
France
ABPC, Germany ABPC -
USA
ABPC -
Japan
ABPC - Conduct Stable and Efficient Central Banking Operations -- With regard
to business operations relating to banknote issuance, the Bank will work to secure
confidence in banknotes and coins using new technology. It will strengthen the monitoring
of the cleanliness of banknotes in circulation and proceed with the introduction
of next-generation automatic banknote examination machines.
Hungary
ABPC
–
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