What do you know about indian currency?

Arpit Shah (Accountant) (21438 Points)

04 February 2015  

Everyone, old or young, rich or poor is so fond of money. Money in the form of currency notes is more attractive than what is there in demat account or bank deposits! This article is all about currency notes.

 

Coins and Notes

Coins are issued in denominations of 50 paise, 1 rupee, 2 rupees, 5 rupees and 10 rupees. Notes (bank notes) are issued in denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 rupees. The issue of 1, 2, 5 rupee notes and 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 25 paise coins are discontinued now.  

 

History

The Paper Currency Act of 1861 gave the monopoly powers of printing currency notes to the government of India. The government of India printed notes till the establishment of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 1935. From thereon, RBI took the responsibility of printing notes.

 

Notes of Rs.10,000

The higher denomination note of Rs.10000 was in circulation till 1946. Again in 1954, Rs.5000 and Rs.1000 notes were introduced and demonized (stopped) in 1978. Can Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issue notes of Rs.20000? No. The provisions of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 bars the issue of notes in denominations above Rs.10000. The higher denomination notes are discontinued to curb black money (unaccounted money)

 

Who mints the coins?

Minting the coins is the responsibility of government of India and not RBI. Can government mint Rs.1000 coin? Yes. They are authorized to mint up to Rs.1000 coin!

 

What is currency paper made of?

Currency paper is composed of cotton and cotton rag.

 

Where are notes and coins produced?

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

 

What happens to old (unfit/torn) notes?

The notes will go back to RBI and after careful examination if the notes are unfit to reissue, they will shred (scrap) them. The coins won’t go back to RBI (means once issued, it will always be in circulation till such coins are withdrawn from circulation)

 

Security features –

There are many security features such as security thread, Intaglio Printing, see through register, water mark, etc. (this is a separate topic to be dealt in another article)

 

How much does it cost to print notes?

To print a 10 rupee note, RBI spends 66 paise and to print a 1000 rupee note, it spends Rs.3.17.  

 

Life of currency notes

The smaller denomination notes such as Rs.10, Rs.20 will last for 2 years and the higher denomination notes such as Rs.500, Rs.1000 last for over 5 years.

 

Plastic notes

Our country is suffering from fake notes mania. In order to improve security features and also to improve the life of bank notes, RBI is introducing plastic notes. As a pilot project, they are introducing 1 billion notes in selected cities such as Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur and Bhubaneshwar and Shimla.