De La Rue to be excluded from new Indian contracts
BRITISH banknote printer De La Rue will not be awarded new contracts to supply the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the near future, a source close to the matter said yesterday.
That could harm De La Rue’s defence against an £895m approach from Oberthur Technologies, the world’s third biggest banknote maker. De La Rue rejected the approach from its French rival in December.
De La Rue said in July there had been production problems at one of its paper factories. As a result, De La Rue has been excluded from contract wins with India in the near future.
RBI is thought to be the customer which De La Rue said in November it could lose following problems with faulty banknote paper.
A recent tender by India’s finance ministry for the supply of currency paper prompted predator Oberthur on Tuesday to ask De La Rue to provide clarity on its prospects of winning future business with RBI.