Union Budget 2019: ‘New Coins With Features For Visually Impaired Soon,’ Says Sitharaman

The Prime Minister had said that the new circulation coins will aid the visually impaired and will instil them with confidence to be able to do transactions on their own.

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday, in her Budget speech, said the Government will make available a new series coins of one, two, five, 10 and 20 rupees. (Also read: ‘Aadhaar, PAN to be Interchangeable, File Returns With Easier,’ Says Sitharaman)

These news coins would be easily identifiable even to the visually impaired. “These new coins will be made available for public use shortly,” said Sitharaman. Earlier this year, in March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unveiled the new series of coins.

Releasing the series, the Prime Minister said that the Union Government was “guided by the vision of reaching the last mile and the last person”. He said the new series of coins was designed with that vision in mind.

The Prime Minister had said that the new circulation coins will aid the visually impaired and will instil them with confidence to be able to do transactions on their own.

He said his Government had taken various initiatives for the welfare of the differently abled community. The Centre was keen to make every initiative Divyang-friendly, he said.

The coins were designed by the National Institute of Design. They are marked with various such features that will make it easy for the visually impaired to use them.

For instance, the coins increase in size and weight as per their denomination. The newly included coin of Rs 20 will be 12-sided with no serrations while the rest of the denominations would be round in shape.