Let us know some unknow facts about our Indian Currency.
1. Paper currency started in Indian
in the 18th century. Private Banks like Bank of Hindustan, Bank of Bengal, The
Bank of Bombay, and The Bank of Madras were among the first to print paper
money in India.
It was only after the Paper
Currency Act of 1861 that the government of India was given the monopoly to
print currency.
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| One of the First Indian Rupee Note Printed in 1917 |
2. The Rs 5-note was the first paper currency issued by RBI in January 1938. It had the portrait of King George VI.
3. The highest currency note ever
printed by the RBI was the Rs.10,000 note during British Raj. It was first
printed in 1938 and a newer version printed in 1954. These notes were
demonetized in 1946 and again in 1978.
4. The first version printed Rs.10000 note was
demonetised in Jan 1946. And in Jan 1978, then Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who
also held finance portfolio, demonetised Rs.1000, Rs.5000 and Rs.10000 notes.
5. Indian currency notes were used for
first time in a separate country in 1935. In that year, the Government of India
Act 1935 was formed, separating the territory of Burma from the administration of the Government of
India. 5, 10 Rupees and 100 Rupees notes with the picture of King George V were
overprinted "Legal Tender in Burma only" for use exclusively within
Burma in 1937. Even though the Government of Burma was separated, the financial
administration remained under the Reserve Bank of India.
6. The
RBI can issue banknotes in the denominations of 5000 and 10,000, or any other
denomination that the Central Government may specify. But, there can't be
banknotes in denominations higher than 10,000 as per the current provisions of
the RBI Act, 1934.
7. Indian currency is composed of cotton and cotton rag.
8. The 'fact' that had been floating around that the rupee was equal to a
US dollar in 1947 is but a myth.
9. During the British rule, and the first decade of independence, the rupee was divided into 16 annas. Each anna was subdivided into 4 paisas. In 1957, decimalisation occurred and the rupee was divided into 100 naye paise (Hindi/Urdu for new paisas). After a few years, the initial "naye" was dropped.
10. Initially, Pakistan used British Indian coins and notes simply over-stamped with "Pakistan". New coins and banknotes were issued in 1948.
11. Notes are printed at four
printing presses located at Nashik, Dewas, Mysore and Salboni. Coins are minted
at the four mints at Mumbai, Noida, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
Each mint carries its unique
identifier shape/sign at the bottom of the coin (beneath the year).
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| Delhi mint - dot |
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| Mumbai mint - diamond |
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| Hyderabad mint - star |
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| Kolkata mint - No mint mark |
12. The first 50 rupee
notes were introduced by Reserve Bank of India in May 1975
13. RBI issued Commemorative coins on various occasions.
Remembering Mahatma Gandhi, RBI
issued coins in his name for the 1st time in 1969 on his birth
centenary. Four coins of 20paise, 50paise, Re.1/ and Re.10/ were issued. Out of
these coins, Re.10 coins were limited edition coins.
The first 75 rupee coin was issued in 2010 to
celebrate 75 years of Reserve Bank of India.
In 2011, 150 rupee coins were issued to commemorate
the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.
The first 1000 rupee
coin was announced in 2012, issued to commemorate the 1000 years of
Brihadeeswarar temple in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.
14. The
tooled one rupee coin (with the portrait of King George VI, i.e., the Head on
both the sides) in the 1975-cult classic 'Sholay', was bought by a Bollywood
fan for Rs 26000 at an auction in 2015.
15. The
500 rupee note was introduced in 1987 and 1000 rupee note in 2000.
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| Rs.500 Note in 1987 |
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| Rs.1000 Note introduced in 2000 |
16. Each
banknote has its amount written in 17 languages. In front written in English
& Hindi, and 15 other languages appear in the back illustrating the
diversity of the country.
18. In 2007, an acute shortage of coins gripped the eastern Indian city of
Calcutta, which saw shopkeepers begging change from beggars and buying coins at
prices above their face value. One reason cited for this acute shortage in
Calcutta was: coins being melted down and smuggled to Bangladesh where they
were turned into razor blades, ornaments, fountain pen nibs, metal idols.
19. In 2010, rupee got a
new symbol ₹
Rupee symbol was designed
by D.Udaya Kumar. The symbol was derived from Devanagari letter "र" (ra) and is a combination of the Latin letter 'R' and
Devanagari letter 'र'. The parallel line in the symbol is drawn to make it
look like the tricolor of the Indian national flag.
20. According to the data
obtained by RTI, 11,661 crore notes lost their usable value (between 2001 and
2015) and were shredded to bits, to be later balled or gummed together, and be
reborn as coasters, paper-weights, pen stands, key chains. In 2010-11 alone,
1,385 crore notes worth Rs 1,78,830 crore were destroyed
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