NEW DELHI: The govt has approved a Rs 1,800 crore proposal for setting up a new cylindrical mould watermark banknote (CWBN) line with an annual capacity to produce 6,000 tonnes of high-security, durable paper, which is used for printing currency notes, non-judicial stamp papers and passports.The move is aimed at meeting the increasing demand for such high-security papers.TOI has learnt that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the proposal on Wednesday. This new line — a set of machines — will replace two of the three lines at the Security Paper Mill, Narmadapuram in Madhya Pradesh, which have been in operation since the 1970s.With the addition of the new line at SPM, the facility will have the annual capacity to produce about 12,000 tonnes of high-security papers.Officials said the new line — comprising machines and other process systems — will be environment-friendly and save water. “The need was felt considering that the number of passports issued annually increased to over 14 million (1.4 crore) in 2024-25, and there is also more demand for stamp paper and sovereign security papers. There has also been an increase in the replacement of old banknotes. This will make us self-sufficient for decades,” said an official. For the procurement of machinery, the agency concerned will float global tenders.Security Paper Mill, Narmadapuram (formerly known as Hoshangabad), is a key unit of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL), which produces high-quality paper for Indian banknotes, non-judicial stamps, and passports.
