Abrar Hussain: The Indian government has denied a report that a Chinese company would be printing its currency notes, calling it “baseless”.
The report by the South China Morning Post claimed a Chinese company had been contracted to print international currencies, including the Indian rupee. The news spread quickly on social media, prompting outrage over national security concerns.
“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 the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) currency presses,” an official from the Department of Economic Affairs told news agency ANI.
The Chinese report quickly gained traction on social media, briefly causing the hashtag #ChinaPrintingRupee to trend worldwide. Many angry users demanded an explanation from the government and questioned the wisdom of the decision given recent tensions between the two countries.
India and China were involved in weeks-long stand-offs along part of their 3,500km (2,174-mile) shared border last June.
India prints all its currency in four high-security presses.
-Source: BBC