Indian Currency Notes

The history of Indian currency notes and evolution began in the 6th century, which is shown by historical surveys. Initially, Indian currency history includes silver coins of irregular shapes. Several marks are printed on them, which symbolise the province they belong to like Dakshina Panchal currency had a swastika printed on their coins. The extensive use of these coins continued until the Maurya period. India was ruled by Mauryas during the 4th century B.C. The Maurya also used punched cards made of silver, gold, and copper. The Mauryan empire ended in the 2nd century B.C, which was then succeeded by the Gupta. The Indian currency had great significance in this Gupta period because of the great inventions in mathematics, science and philosophy, arts, etc.

The Indian currency had also suffered a lot of change in size and design since its evolution.  The coins in this period have one ruler's face on one face of the coin, and the reverse side will have the deity.

(Image will be Uploaded soon)

Turkish sultans displaced Indian royalties in the 12th century A.D for up to the 18th century. The Indian currency was introduced with Islamic calligraphy at this time. "Tanka and jittal" were introduced, the Indian currency made of copper and silver, respectively. Islam inscribed the teaching of the Quran on the coins as it does not support the practice of idolatry. 

The province that every ruler wants to capture is the Delhi Sultanate. The notable rulers were Alauddin Khilji,  Raziya Sultan, Mohammad bin Tughlaq, etc., who issued their coins. Raziya sultan became the first woman ruler who began new coins for trade.

When Sher Shah Suri conquered Humayun, he issued a 178 gm silver coin called ‘rupiya.’ The tradition of rupiya goes until the 20th century. He further influenced the most popular Mughal emperor - Akbar. He also issued coins of different weights in silver, copper, and gold known as rupiya, dum, and mohar. 

(Image will be Uploaded soon)

In the 16th century, the Marathas grew as powerful and ruled major areas of the Indian subcontinent till the 18th century. The Marathas issued Shivrai coins as they worshipped Lord Shiva. The Indian currency history in this period looks like a coin that had ‘ Sri Raja Shiv’ carved in Devanagari on one side and on the other hand has Chatrapati.’ Mostly the coins were made up of copper. 

(Image will be Uploaded soon)

Britishers and Indian Currency 

The East India Company came to India as a trader in the 16th century. They ruled India till up to the 19th century. The British soon took the authority of Mughal designs. The first currency of India was called as Kosala and Magadha coin and can be seen back to the 7th century BC. Further, George VI substituted the older designs on banknotes and coins and brought Rupee as the official currency of Colonial India after the 1857 revolt. However, the Indian currency history had seen a lack in the production of one-rupee coins due to the crisis during World War I. 

Reserve Bank of India, RBI was founded in 1935, and the Govt. of India got the power of the allotment of Indian currency notes. The Reserve bank of India overtakes the task of issuing the first currency notes in 1938. The denominations produced are ₹2,5,10,50 100, 1000, 10000 but soon demonetised 500 rupee notes. Hence, when asked, "who introduced paper money," it is evident that RBI introduced the paper money. The first paper currency in India note, i.e., the 10 rupees' note, was presented by the Government of India in the year 1861. The first paper currency that RBI took out in 1938 was a five-rupee note, which had an image of King George inscribed on it.

The RBI introduced ₹20, ₹50 notes in 1970 and ₹500 and ₹1000 notes in 1987 and 2000, respectively. The newly approved design was printed in Nasik, Dewas, Salboni, and Mysore. The Mahatma Gandhi banknotes were started in 1996, which had replaced all other prototypes. A new symbol, ‘₹’ designed by Udaya Kumar, was selected in place of INR or Rs. in the year July 2010. Plastic currency was accepted all over the country after demonetisation. The government is also encouraging people to use cashless money transactions to prevent black money hoarding issues and money laundering. Presently, Indian currency had been replaced with Phonepe, Paytm, etc. 

The evolution of Indian currency notes and coins exists with one of the world’s largest economies, which is going through new challenges and changes. The coins and currency notes project will soon become part of history as online transactions will soon be part of Indian pockets. 

Interesting Facts About Indian Currency 

• General Bank in Bengal,  Bengal Bank, and the Bank of Hindustan are the first banks to develop paper currency in the late eighteenth century.

• RBI has printed 10,000 rupees as the highest denomination RBI in its history. 1,000 rupees and 10,000 rupees notes were in circulation between 1938 and 1946 but were slowly demonetised.

• In 1954, 1,000 rupees, 5,000 rupees, and 10,000 rupees notes were reintroduced but again, in 1978, they got demonetised.

• Denominations of 1 paise, 2 paise, 3 paise, 5 paise, 10 paise, 20 paise, and 25 paise were in distribution till June 30, 2011, but were then eliminated.

• The only coin which is still in circulation is 50 paise coins which are called small coins, while the other denominations are known as rupee coins.

• Indian Rupees is made up of Cotton and Rag, which is the pulp of cotton, dyes, balsam, and textile fibres. This looks like paper to avoid fake notes and prevent corruption. 

• There are small symbols in coins that are put according to the places they are created in. For example, the dot represents Delhi mint, the diamond represents diamond, and the star represents Hyderabad mint. However, notes are printed in four different places like Mysore, Salboni, Nashik, and Dewas. 

• People complained that the 500 and 1000 rupee notes used to come out of their wallets, so the newer notes are of the same heights. Also, the domination decides the length of the Note. Hence, the difference in the width between a 200 & 500 note is smaller than the length difference between a 500 & 2000 rupee note.

• Indian Rupee and Hyderabadi Rupee were issued at the same time. The only princely state permitted to issue its Notes is Hyderabad which existed from 1918 to 1959. The fun fact about Indian Currency is that 7 Hyderabad rupees = 6 Indian rupees. Dr. G.S. Melkote issued the last, i.e., fifteenth, Hyderabad Notes, which was used to be in Brown and Multicolor.

• The Indian Note has a geometrical shape on the left side of the Note, which can be used by blind people using their tactile senses. This tactile sense in the Indian Currency helps the blind person to identify the money and hence helps them to be independent. 

• Indian Currency before independence was the same for Pakistan and India. Even after independence, Pakistan continued using Indian Rupee as it is just with a stamp of Pakistan.After the existence of the State bank of Pakistan in July 1948, which helps to shape Pakistan's Currency.