New Delhi, Oct 1 (KNN) The Commerce Ministry has done away with taking Finance Ministry's approval to import currency and security printing paper.

“Requirement of a specific approval letter from Ministry of Finance for import of Currency Note Paper/Security Printing Paper has been dispensed with, subject to submission of a certificate of import from the head of the Units of SPMCIL and BRBNMPL to Customs, for clearance of such imports and subject to Actual User condition,” Director General of Foreign Trade has said in a notification.

Earlier, the letter of approval of the Ministry of Finance had to be submitted to the Customs for clearance of the import of Currency Note Paper and Security Printing Paper.

DGFT said, “Import of Water-mark Bank Note Paper may be made, without an import licence, by the Note Printing Presses of the Government of India, namely, Currency Note Press, Nasik; Bank Note Press, Dewas both units of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL); Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Ltd.(BRBNMPL) units in Mysore, Salboni and Bangalore, subject to submission of a certificate of import from the Head of units and with actual user condition.”

Further, it said, “Import of Security Printing Paper may be made without an import licence by India Security Press, Nasik and Security Paper Press, Hyderabad both units of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) subject to submission of a certificate of import from the Head of units and with actual user condition.”

Security printing is the field of the printing industry that deals with the printing of items such as banknotes, passports, tamper-evident labels, product authentication, stock certificates, postage stamps, identity cards.

The main goal of security printing is to prevent forgery, tampering, or counterfeiting. (KNN/SD)