Mumbai: The Reserve Bank is considering the use of long-lasting and more durable plastics for printing currency notes, to replace paper notes that have a shorter life.

"The bank is deliberating upon the option of bringing in plastic currency which can be a mixture of paper, plastic and cotton," RBI deputy general manager (Chandigarh) Daljit Singh said.

He said the objective was to deal with the problem of soiled notes, particularly in small denominations. "We have observed that the paper currency notes up to Rs10 have a very small life up to 4-5 months and they get soiled quite fast," Singh said.

Alternatively, he said, the RBI may also launch coins in the Rs10 denomination to address the issue of early mutilation of currency notes.

The central bank will also evaluate the extent to which countries like Australia and New Zealand are using plastic currency at the moment, he said.

RBI, under its 'clean note policy', is also speeding up efforts to replace soiled notes with good ones.

RBI has four printing presses at Nasik in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Mysore in Karnataka.

RBI, meanwhile, has instructed public and private banks to accept and replace soiled notes.