PM Modi calls for Swadeshi currency notes to push 'Make In India' campaign

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi said on Thursday that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should use Indian paper and ink to print currency notes and set a target date for achieving the objective as part of the 'Make In India' campaign.

"Today, we are celebrating 80 years of RBI. Can we not fix a date ... that on any specific date, whatever currency is being printed, paper will be Indian and ink will also be Indian," he said in Mumbai.

"It is ironic that the photograph of Mahatma Gandhi, who fought for Swadeshi, appears on currency printed on imported paper," he added.

Later, RBI deputy governor SS Mundra said that work on a factory manufacturing currency paper is in advanced stages.

According to experts, use of indigenous paper and currency would also help in curbing counterfeiting of the notes.