Vinayak, I did say "for larger bills" didn't I? :). My dad's been doing security printing since the 80s so I've picked up some trivia along the way.
That is, besides inflation, another reason why small currency is going out of circulation -- srs (blackberry) -----Original Message----- From: Vinayak Hegde <vinay...@gmail.com> Sender: silklist-bounces+suresh=hserus....@lists.hserus.net Date: Sat, 5 May 2012 10:02:26 To: silklist@lists.hserus.net<silklist@lists.hserus.net> Reply-To: silklist@lists.hserus.net Subject: Re: [silk] Of paper tigers and tigers on paper On Tuesday, January 24, 2012, Vinayak Hegde wrote: > On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 11:05 PM, Suresh Ramasubramanian > <sur...@hserus.net <javascript:;>> wrote: > > Udhay Shankar N [23/01/12 22:37 +0530]: > > > >> On 23-Jan-12 9:53 PM, ss wrote: > >> > >>> Once you oursource a thing like making curreny then you can only writhe > >>> and > >>> kick about when it gets faked. > >> > >> > >> The hidden assumption in this statement is that it is feasible to get > >> the same anti-forgery features done here at a comparable cost. > > > > > > Udhay, for larger bills (such as the 10 rupee and above currently in > > circulation), the face value of the bill is going to be far more than its > > printing and distribution costs. > > > > It wont cost 500 rupees to print a 100 rupee bill > > Well only partly true. Currency can sometimes be cost more to make > than face value. > Case in point the lincoln penny costs 1.7 cents to make when the face > value is 1 cent. > > > http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/02/12/new-penny-lincoln-love-helps-keep-waste-alive/ > > One guy even built his business model on monetising this differential cost. > > http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/31/080331fa_fact_owen > > More links: > > http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2008/05/the-lincoln-cen.html > > I have lately been fascinated that countries have been printing > currency on plastic. I have few of those in my collection. > > Nothing tells about how high inflation is (the govt manipulated index > notwithstanding) than how cheap is the metal that goes into making the > coins. > Case in point Look at how the 1 Rupee / 2 Rupees / 5 rupees coins have > "evolved". The metal has become cheaper and the coins have become > smaller. 25/50paise coins have gone out of circulation. > > -- Vinayak > Canada is getting rid of the penny finally. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-04/canada-stops-making-cents-as-flaherty-lets-penny-drop.html -- Vinayak
