Indian currency printed by Chinese firm? AAP takes on Narendra Modi government

The AAP government on Monday sought a clarification from the Centre following a report published in a Chinese daily claiming that a company there has been given the licence to print Indian currencyAam Aadmi Party AAP national spokesperson Raghav Chadha termed the revelation as a big threat to Indias national security and financial sovereignty and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi why this information was not available in the public domainWhat were the reasons behind approaching a foreign firm instead of assigning someone domestically Was India approached by China and did we succumb to pressure from them in their bid to increase their global influence Chadha askedThe South China Morning Post a Chinese financial news publication has reported that a Chinese stateowned company China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation has been contracted to print large quantities of international currencies including that of IndiaThe report states that in 2013 Beijing launched the belt and road plan which involved 60 countries from Asia Europe and Africa to stimulate economic growthThe President of the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation Liu Guisheng was quoted as saying that his company has since then successfully won contracts for currency production projects in a number of countries including Thailand Bangladesh Sri Lanka Malaysia India Brazil and PolandReferring to the report Chadha said that an undisclosed source was quoted as saying that some governments have asked Beijing not to publicise the deal because they are worried such information could compromise national security or trigger unnecessary debates at homeHe opined that in the light of recent hostilities between the two nations this could lead to some serious strategic disadvantages for IndiaThe report claims that despite domestic currency demand being at its lowest China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation has been functioning at full capacity to deliver on international contractsIt also states that while there was not much work until last year there has been a sudden jump in productionChadha went on to dub the Modi governments demonetization move as wasteful and dubious in making India a cashless economy and said that similarly the decision of outsourcing the printing of Indian notes to China is counterproductive and dangerousIf the intent was to move towards a cashless economy what is the objective of rolling out new currency for Rs10 Who is the beneficiary of the expense at which the printing is being pursued Chadha askedAnother suspicious aspect of this deal is how it negates our fight against counterfeit currency This action puts us in a vulnerable position Will this not create more avenues for international parties for counterfeiting he addedCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever