Wondering what happened to demonetised notes? Well, they’re now designer products

Thanks to the RBI and the NID, demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes are all set to turn into designer products.

Ahmedabad, April 27: In this world nothing is waste, literally. If you have an ingenious mind, you can create designer products from scrapped notes too. Yes, that is why the Reserve Bank of India and the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, have joined hands to create designer products from shredded currency notes, including Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 demonetised notes.

Last year, the Centre announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. All these discarded notes, which we deposited in banks, have been shredded into pieces by the RBI.

Recently, the RBI has sent around 200 kilograms of scrapped notes -- also known as briquettes -- to the premier design institute to recycle them into something worthy and beautiful.

"The NID...was asked by the RBI last month to see what can be done with the shredded notes which also include demonetised currency notes. The RBI's brief to us was to look into that what can be done with the notes and what can be the right use. The shredded currency sent to us by the RBI also includes damaged and soiled notes of other denominations as well as the demonetised currency. We want to experiment with the 'briquettes' and come up with some products. We have plans to flag off a national level design competition to scout ideas from students on what can be done with them soon," NID director Pradyumna Vyas told Indian Express.

Vyas and his colleague, Pravinsinh Solanki, who is a faculty of the institute, have been working on various concepts to turn 'gold' out of 'waste'. The NID will soon host a national-level competition to turn designer products out of demonetised notes for college students, informed the authorities of the institute. The winners of the competition will be handsomely rewarded.

"We were asked to develop something and have created a few products, but we want to ask students to come up with out-of-box ideas. Soon we will form a team, including NID students and faculty members, who will also handle few nitty-gritty of the competition. The only specification would be that the visibility of notes be intact, that it could be useful to humans and have value," said Solanki.

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