We all are aware of the fact that 1-rupee coins have turned into ‘nothing’ today. Their monetary value has come down to the point where they make little impact on the financiality of a person, as of 2022. But they are still manufactured and you’ll be surprised to know how much it takes to mint a one-rupee coin.
An RTI was filed by India Today, to which the Reserve Bank of India reverted. The RBI revealed that the average cost of manufacturing a one-rupee coin is 1.11 rupees. Yes! We did not make a mistake, neither did you while reading it. The government spends 11 paise more than the actual value of a one-rupee coin, to manufacture it.
Another important fact that the RTI revealed was that the production of one-rupee coins had significantly dropped over the past four years. Over the past five years, the highest number of coins were minted in the year 2016-17 (2201 million coins), followed by the 2015-16 (2151 million coins).
Though the report revealed the cost of manufacturing a one-rupee coin, it refused to elaborate further about the cost of minting a coin. It said, this information is denied under Section 8 (1) (d) of the RTI Act, 2005 as this is a trade secret.
Interestingly, the cost of manufacturing a 2 rupee coin is 1.28 rupees, a 5 rupee coin is 3.69 rupees and a 10 rupee coin is 5.54 rupees. This also makes us reach the conclusion that the one-rupee coin is the only currency in the country that takes more than its undersigned value to be manufactured.
