A gluttony of tenners

There is apparently an excess supply of Rs 10 coins in India, as per Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who stated in the Lok Sabha that the government has temporarily halted the minting of new coins of Rs 10 denomination.However, according to the RBI, the supply of Rs 10 coins has been nearly 50 per cent less than their requirement in the last two years, with the mints able to fulfill less than two third of the demand - or 62.3 per cent - due to capacity constraints.

Less than five per cent of all the coins in circulation are of Rs 10 denomination, constituting the lowest share, in terms of volume.

In terms of value of coins in circulation, the Rs 10 coins now constitute the third largest share, up from the previous two years when they constituted the fourth largest share of the value pie.

Coins of Rs 10 denomination are the only ones whose share, in terms of value in circulation, has seen an increase by nearly seven percentage points in the last two years.

Minting a coin of Rs 10 denomination works out to be more than six times as expensive as printing a currency note of Rs 10 denomination.However, while the average lifespan of a currency note is 9-10 months, a coin lasts an average of 30 years.