SME Times News Bureau | 18 Jan, 2017
The government on Tuesday
rubbished the Congress's allegations that a British company had been
shortlisted for printing of plastic notes in India.
The
government said the security clearance for the firm had been withheld
and no contract had been signed with it for the past three
years.
The Congress on Tuesday alleged that the central
government collaborated with a blacklisted British note printing
company De La Rue.
"De La Rue has been shortlisted for
printing of plastic notes in India despite it being blacklisted,
showing complicity at the highest level," said Oommen Chandy,
former Kerala Chief Minister and senior leader of the Congress, at a
press conference here.
The Ministry of Finance, without naming
the company, in a statement said: "No fresh contract has been
given to this company by the Government during the last three
years."
"The security clearance for this company has
been withheld by the Ministry of Finance. Hence, no fresh orders have
been placed with the said company since 2014," said the
statement.
"The said company had been supplying bank note
paper till 2010. Further, as per the decision taken in 2013, the
company was permitted to supply a security feature for bank notes
till December 2015," it added.
"The company has
applied for setting-up a factory in India. No action has been taken
on their application," said the Finance Ministry
statement.
Earlier on Tuesday, Chandy said: "In 2011,
then MoS Finance Namo Narain Meena responding to a question regarding
security printing, in the Rajya Sabha, had stated that the security
clearance was denied to De La Rue after they failed to comply to the
specifications stipulated in the contract."
Earlier in
the month, Chandy, in a letter to Modi, cited a media report that
three companies, including De La Rue, had been shortlisted for
printing plastic notes, and requested the concerned ministry to
"publish the list of companies that are shortlisted/qualified
for printing plastic currency in India".
He noted that
the British company was denied security clearance in 2011 and the
current status has not been explained.
Chandy also wrote that
the company was blacklisted during the UPA's tenure as it could not
"comply to the specifications of the contract".
Rebutting
the allegation, the company in a statement on December 9, said: "De
La Rue categorically refutes the defamatory and malicious allegations
about its business published in Indian media."
"De
La Rue is not supplying paper for printing of Indian currency and we
are not associated with printing of currency in India at present in
any form. De La Rue has received no notice nor are we aware that we
are blacklisted in India," it said.
"De La Rue does
not supply currency paper and is not printing currency for Pakistan
and would never supply currency paper manufactured for one country to
another," the statement added.
De La Rue designs,
integrates, manufactures and delivers bank notes, bank note paper,
polymer and security features.