Why is Indian ink not used in printing of currency, asks Narendra Modi

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today asked why an India-made ink is not used in printing of currency notes.

"The central government imports the ink for printing Indian currency notes, whereas the ink produced in India is exported and used in printing of currency notes in other countries," Modi stated, while inaugurating `Indiachem 2011' in Gandhinagar today.

"The central government spends crores of rupees for importing the ink. Why we can not use ink produced in the country?" Modi asked.

The chief minister also urged the central government and the financial institutions to give highest priority to the investment in pro-environmental parts of the chemical and petro-chemical industry.

"It is wrong to treat the investments in environmental aspect as a dead investment," Modi said.

He also said that Gujarat government had decided to promote manufacturing industry which gives high-end value addition.

For the chemical and petro-chemical sector, the state has decided to establish 25 centres of excellences on public-private partnership model.

Around 300 top chemical industry players participated in the event. Gujarat has the largest chemical industry in the country.