Where are Indian currency notes printed and who runs the presses?

Two organisations share the work. BRBNMPL (Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Pvt Ltd), a Reserve Bank of India subsidiary, runs presses at Mysuru in Karnataka and Salboni in West Bengal. SPMCIL (Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd), a Government of India enterprise, runs the Currency Note Press at Nashik in Maharashtra and the Bank Note Press at Dewas in Madhya Pradesh. The cotton-based currency paper is supplied by the Security Paper Mill at Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh, supplemented by imports. Coins are minted at India Government Mints in Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Noida under SPMCIL.

How does a forensic examiner distinguish a typewriter, a laser printer and an inkjet printer on a questioned document?

Under a stereo microscope at 10x to 40x, each technology leaves a signature. Typewriter ribbon impressions show a slightly inked, fibre-textured character with sometimes-visible cloth-ribbon weave; the character sits flush with the paper and shows the typeface design of the specific machine. Laser print sits on the paper surface as fused toner with sharp edges and slight gloss, often with stray toner specks in the background; colour laser output carries yellow MIC tracking dots. Inkjet print soaks into the paper as liquid ink with soft, feathered edges and a characteristic colour-dot pattern from the cartridge nozzle array. Individualising defects then run from typeface alignment and ribbon defects on typewriters, to banding and drum scratches on lasers, to nozzle clogs and ink chemistry on inkjets.

Typescripts, Printed Matter, Currency and Mechanical Impressions

UGC-NET Paper 2 Unit IX notes on typewriter and printer examination, Indian currency security features (MGNS), and FICN counterfeit detection.

Last updated: 18 May 2026

This bullet of Unit IX bundles four very different things under one heading: typescripts (typewriter and printer output), printed matter (any commercially printed document), currency notes and lottery tickets, and mechanical impressions like rubber stamps and embossed seals. The breadth is the point. A document examiner in a CFSL questioned-documents division will move from a 1980s Brother typewriter ribbon recovered in an extortion case, to a colour-laser printout with yellow tracking dots, to a stack of fake ₹500 notes seized by the NIA under FICN provisions, and on to a forged court seal embossed on a property deed, all in the same week. The exam wants you to know the comparison logic for each class.

Treat the topic as two clusters. Cluster one is class-and-individual analysis of machine-made writing: typewriters in the legacy frame, then laser and inkjet printers in the modern frame, with photocopiers sitting next door. Cluster two is the security-printing world: Indian currency under the Mahatma Gandhi New Series (MGNS, 2016 onwards), the layered security features RBI uses to defeat counterfeiting, the FICN legal frame under UAPA 1967 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, and the smaller satellites of lottery tickets, postage stamps and seal impressions.

Key terms

Typeface: The design of the printed character (shape of serifs, slant, proportions). Class characteristic of a typewriter model or font family.
Ribbon impression: Inked impression made through a fabric or carbon-film ribbon on a typewriter. Carbon-film ribbons yield sharper, single-use impressions that allow text recovery from the spent ribbon.
Daisy wheel: Interchangeable print element on later electronic typewriters and early word-processor printers; petals carry raised characters that strike the ribbon.
Golf ball (IBM Selectric): Spherical typeball developed by IBM in 1961; rotates and tilts to bring the chosen character to the print position. Class link to Selectric machines.
Banding: Periodic horizontal density variation in laser or inkjet output caused by drum, roller or carriage-mechanism imperfections; an individualising defect.
Machine-identification code (MIC): Yellow tracking dots embedded by most colour laser printers and photocopiers that encode printer serial number and date-time stamp. Also called Extended Forensic Features (EFF) or simply tracking dots.
Intaglio printing: Engraved-plate printing in which ink sits in recesses below the plate surface; transfers as a raised, tactile relief on the paper. The signature feel of genuine Indian banknotes.
Optically Variable Ink (OVI): Colour-shifting ink that changes hue (green to blue on ₹500 and ₹2000) when the note is tilted. A primary public-check security feature.
Security thread: Embedded metallic or polymer thread visible against light; on MGNS notes it is a windowed thread with alternating 'भारत' and 'RBI' micro-text and colour shift on higher denominations.
Watermark: Image formed by varying paper thickness during manufacture, visible against light. MGNS notes carry the Mahatma Gandhi portrait watermark plus an electrotype of the denomination numeral.
FICN: Fake Indian Currency Notes. Counterfeiting and trafficking attracts UAPA 1967 Sections 15 to 17 (as a terrorist act when high-quality and large-scale) and BNS 2023 Sections 178 to 181 for general counterfeiting offences. NIA holds investigative jurisdiction over FICN cases.

Typewriter examination

Typeface gives class. Wear, alignment, and ribbon defects give individuality.

Typewriters dropped out of office use in India through the 1990s but they still surface in cold cases, old wills, contested government records and small-town extortion files. The examiner works two levels. Class characteristics identify the make and model: typeface design (pica 10 cpi, elite 12 cpi, proportional spacing), slant, serif style, character height and the typewriter mechanism (manual bar-type, electric, golf-ball, or daisy wheel). Individual characteristics identify the specific machine: vertical and horizontal alignment defects (a letter that prints high, low, left or right of its baseline), uneven impression pressure (heavy on one side from a worn type bar), broken or chipped serifs, ribbon-feed quirks and platen damage that prints as a faint ridge under a character.

The mechanism families matter for MCQs. Manual bar-type machines use one type bar per character. Electric bar-type retains the bars but a motor strikes them. The IBM Selectric (1961) introduced the golf ball typeball that rotates and tilts to bring any character to the print position; changing typeface meant swapping the ball. The daisy wheel typewriter and early word-processor printers of the late 1970s and 1980s used a flat petal wheel. Indian office desks ran on Godrej Prima typewriters (the last Indian manufacturer, which stopped production in 2009), Halda (Swedish), Brother, Olivetti, Remington Rand and Facit machines. Carbon-film ribbons used on later electric typewriters give a sharp impression and can be read back at the lab to recover the typed text directly off the spent ribbon, which is a recurring exam point.

The questioned-documents division at CFSL Kolkata and CFSL Hyderabad maintain reference collections of typefaces from major makes so an examiner can narrow a questioned typescript to a family and then to a class within that family before requesting the suspected machine for individualising comparison.

Laser and inkjet printer examination

Toner fuses on the surface. Inkjet soaks in. Colour lasers leave a yellow trail.

Modern questioned-document casework has moved from typewriters to office printers, multi-function devices and photocopiers. The examiner asks first which technology produced the print, then which device. Laser printing uses dry toner (pigment in plastic) drawn onto a charged drum and fused to paper by heat and pressure; under magnification toner sits on the surface and shows a slight gloss and sharp edges, with stray toner specks in the background. Inkjet printing sprays liquid ink droplets that soak into the paper fibres and show a soft, feathered edge under magnification; colour dot patterns are characteristic of the cartridge head design. Photocopying (analogue or digital) uses the same xerographic principle as laser printing and is examined the same way.

The individualising defect set for laser and digital systems is the banding pattern: periodic horizontal density variation caused by drum eccentricity, fuser-roller wear or developer-roller defects. The repeat period and amplitude can tie a printout to a specific machine when the suspect device is available. Drum scratches print as fixed thin lines down the page on every output, another individualising mark.

The biggest exam fact in this section is the machine-identification code (MIC), also called Extended Forensic Features (EFF) or yellow tracking dots. Most colour laser printers and colour photocopiers embed a faint pattern of yellow micro-dots on every printed page that encodes the device serial number and (in many cases) the date and time of printing. The dots were introduced quietly by manufacturers under pressure from central banks and law enforcement to deter counterfeiting; they were publicly documented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in 2005. The dots are visible under blue light (about 470 nm) or under a microscope after enlargement. CFSL examiners use the MIC to trace counterfeit currency printouts, ransom-note printouts and forged certificates back to the originating device.

Inkjet output does not carry MIC dots in the same systematic way, but inkjet

Indian currency security features (Mahatma Gandhi New Series)

Intaglio relief, OVI colour shift, micro-letters, security thread, watermark, latent image, bleed lines.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issues currency under the RBI Act 1934. Printing is split between BRBNMPL (Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Pvt Ltd), the RBI subsidiary with presses at Mysuru (Karnataka) and Salboni (West Bengal), and SPMCIL (Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd), a Government of India enterprise that runs the Currency Note Press at Nashik (Maharashtra) and the Bank Note Press at Dewas (Madhya Pradesh). The currency paper itself is supplied by Security Paper Mill, Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh) and by imports.

The Mahatma Gandhi New Series (MGNS) was launched in November 2016 alongside demonetisation of the old ₹500 and ₹1000 notes. MGNS denominations issued so far are ₹10, ₹20, ₹50, ₹100, ₹200, ₹500 and (since withdrawn from circulation in May 2023) ₹2000. Each note carries a layered set of security features that the examiner checks in a routine sequence.

Front-of-note features.

Intaglio printing for the Mahatma Gandhi portrait, the RBI seal, the Ashoka Pillar emblem, the denomination numeral and the Reserve Bank governor's signature. Run a fingernail across these and you feel raised relief; offset and inkjet counterfeits feel flat.
Latent image of the denomination numeral on the vertical band right of the Mahatma Gandhi portrait, visible when the note is held at eye level horizontally.
Micro-lettering between the portrait and the vertical band: "RBI" and "भारत" plus the denomination numeral. Visible under a 10x hand lens; counterfeits show a blurred dotty mass instead of crisp letters.
Optically Variable Ink (OVI) for the denomination numeral on ₹500 and ₹2000 notes: colour shifts from green to blue on tilt. ₹200 and lower do not carry OVI.

Counterfeit detection workflow and the FICN legal frame

UV, magnification, magnetic ink, intaglio touch test, then the SOP and the law.

A field-level counterfeit check by a bank cashier runs three quick tests: feel the intaglio relief, tilt the note to see the OVI colour shift on ₹500, and hold the note against light to see the watermark, see-through register and security thread. A document examiner adds a longer sequence at the lab.

Laboratory examination sequence.

Stereo microscope at 10x to 40x to compare intaglio relief, micro-letter sharpness, ink halftone patterns and paper fibre structure.
UV inspection at 254 nm and 365 nm: genuine notes show selective fluorescence on numbering panel and security thread; counterfeits printed on commercial paper fluoresce all over.
IR / transmitted light examination of the watermark, electrotype and see-through register.
Magnetic ink check: the security thread and certain intaglio inks on genuine notes carry magnetic properties picked up by a magnetic reader.
VSC (Video Spectral Comparator) examination for ink differentiation across UV, visible and IR bands.
Comparison with the RBI reference note of the same series and printing year held by the lab.

RBI Counterfeit Note Detection and Impounding procedure (RBI Master Direction on Detection and Impounding of Counterfeit Notes, 2017, amended) requires every bank branch that detects a counterfeit to impound it without exchange, mark it "COUNTERFEIT NOTE / नकली नोट", issue an acknowledgement receipt to the tenderer, and report to the police. Holdings of four or more counterfeits in a single transaction must trigger an FIR with the local police, and police must inform the NCRB which maintains FICN data.

Legal frame.

Indian Penal Code 1860 Sections 489A to 489E historically governed counterfeiting of currency notes and bank notes. Under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023

Lottery tickets, postage stamps and other security print

Same security-printing toolkit, different denomination of risk.

Lottery tickets in India are issued by state-government lotteries (Kerala, Sikkim, Maharashtra, Punjab, Goa, West Bengal, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh) under the Lotteries (Regulation) Act 1998 and the Lotteries (Regulation) Rules 2010. Tickets carry security features scaled to the denomination: serial numbering, micro-print, watermarks on higher-value tickets, holograms, OVI on prize-linked tickets, and UV-fluorescent print elements. Forgery typically involves altering the winning serial number on a low-value ticket; the examiner looks for erasures, ink-overlay differences (under VSC) and disturbance of the paper surface around the altered digits.

Postage stamps are printed by the India Security Press, Nashik under SPMCIL. Security features include watermarks (the multiple Ashoka emblem watermark on definitive stamps), perforation gauge and pattern, phosphor banding under UV, and intaglio printing for high-value definitive stamps. Forensic questions usually involve reuse of cancelled stamps (chemical removal of the cancellation overprint) and forgery of high-value philatelic stamps.

Cheques and demand drafts issued by Indian banks under the CTS-2010 (Cheque Truncation System) standard carry a fixed set of security features: void pantograph (the word "VOID" appears on photocopies), micro-lettering in signature line, watermark "CTS-INDIA" visible against light, UV-fluorescent bank logo, chemical-sensitive paper that stains when erasing fluids are used, MICR code line at the bottom in magnetic ink, and IFSC and account-number panels.

Mechanical impressions: seals, stamps and embossing

Class from die design, individuality from wear and pressure pattern.

Mechanical impressions cover the impressions left by rubber stamps, metal seals, embossing dies, perforating dies (cancellation devices on accounting documents), and dry seals used by courts, notaries and registrars. The examination logic is the standard class-plus-individual framework.

Rubber stamps (the most common questioned-document case) carry class characteristics in the typeface, the layout (rectangular, round, oval), and the line work of any logo. Individual characteristics arise from manufacture (small voids in the rubber, edge irregularities), use (wear on high-pressure points, accumulated ink and paper fibres in recesses) and damage (cracks, missing slivers of rubber). A questioned rubber-stamp impression is compared with test impressions taken from the suspect stamp at varying pressures and ink loads. Pre-inked self-inking stamps (Trodat, Shiny brands common in Indian offices) give more uniform impressions than traditional separate-ink-pad rubber stamps and are harder to individualise.

Metal seals and embossing dies used by courts, registrars of companies, notaries, sub-registrars (under the Registration Act 1908) and educational institutions leave a relief impression on paper (no ink) or a wax-and-ink combination. Examination uses oblique lighting to bring out the relief, photography at controlled angles, and silicone or polymer casts of the suspect die when comparison is needed. The 2D versus 3D nature of the impression is the discriminator: embossing yields a three-dimensional deformation of the paper that a flat rubber-stamp reproduction cannot match.

Perforation and crimping devices used by banks ("PAID", "CANCELLED") create cut-out character patterns. Punch wear, slight rotation of the die between strikes, and ink residue patterns all individualise.

Casework anchors in India include forged sub-registrar seals on property deeds (a recurring issue in registry-office investigations), forged court orders bearing scanned high-court seals (now common with colour laser printing), and forged academic certificates with university seals examined by CFSL and SFSL questioned-documents divisions.

MCQ takeaways

MGNS launched November 2016 alongside demonetisation of old ₹500 and ₹1000 notes.BRBNMPL presses: Mysuru (Karnataka) and Salboni (West Bengal). RBI subsidiary.SPMCIL presses: Currency Note Press, Nashik and Bank Note Press, Dewas. Government of India.Currency paper from Security Paper Mill, Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh).OVI (Optically Variable Ink) is colour-shifting (green to blue) on ₹500 and ₹2000 denomination numeral.Watermark = Mahatma Gandhi portrait + electrotype of denomination numeral, embedded during paper manufacture.Intaglio = recessed-plate engraved printing; gives raised tactile relief, the touch test for genuine notes.Micro-letters on MGNS read "RBI" and "भारत" (Bharat) plus denomination.Security thread is windowed with "भारत" and "RBI" alternating; colour-shifting on ₹500.MIC (machine-identification code) = yellow tracking dots on colour laser printers, documented by EFF in 2005.IBM Selectric (1961) = golf-ball typewriter; daisy wheel = flat petal print element.FICN = Fake Indian Currency Notes. Charged under UAPA 1967 Sections 15 to 17 as a terrorist act when large-scale; ordinary counterfeiting under BNS 2023 Sections 178 to 181 (formerly IPC 489A to 489E).NIA holds investigative jurisdiction over FICN under the NIA Act 2008.RBI Master Direction (2017) governs detection and impounding of counterfeit notes at bank branches.CTS-2010 cheque standard mandates void pantograph, "CTS-INDIA" watermark, MICR line and UV bank logo.

What are the key security features of Indian currency notes under the Mahatma Gandhi New Series for UGC-NET?

Memorise the layered set in order: intaglio printing (raised tactile relief on portrait, emblem, denomination), latent image of the denomination on the vertical band, micro-lettering reading 'RBI' and 'भारत', Optically Variable Ink (OVI) colour shift from green to blue on ₹500 and ₹2000 denomination numerals, windowed security thread with alternating 'भारत' and 'RBI' text, see-through register where front and back denomination halves align against light, bleed lines and an intaglio identification mark for the visually impaired, watermark of Mahatma Gandhi with electrotype denomination numeral, ascending-size numbering panel, and selective UV fluorescence on numbering and thread (the paper itself is non-fluorescent).

Under what laws is the counterfeiting of Indian currency notes (FICN) prosecuted?

Two parallel regimes apply. Ordinary counterfeiting offences sit under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 Sections 178 to 181 (counterfeiting currency notes, using as genuine, possession with intent, making or possessing instruments, and making documents resembling currency notes), renumbered from IPC 1860 Sections 489A to 489E. Large-scale, high-quality FICN is treated as a terrorist act under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 Sections 15, 16 and 17 because it threatens the economic security of India. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) holds investigative jurisdiction over FICN under the NIA Act 2008.

What are machine-identification codes (MIC) on colour laser printers, and why do they matter for forensic examiners?

MIC, also called yellow tracking dots or Extended Forensic Features (EFF), are faint patterns of yellow micro-dots that most colour laser printers and colour photocopiers embed on every printed page. They encode the device serial number and (in many cases) the date and time of printing. They were introduced quietly under pressure from central banks and law enforcement and were publicly documented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in 2005. CFSL examiners use the MIC to trace counterfeit currency printouts, ransom notes and forged certificates back to the originating printer, making it one of the most consequential modern questioned-document features.

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