Indian currency

Rupee

Official currency of the Republic of India.

The word "rupee" was derived from the Sanskrit word "rūpyakam".

Unicode

20B9

ISO 4217 code

INR

Issued by

Reserve Bank of India

Derives its authority from Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

Official user(s)

India

Bhutan (alongside theBhutanese ngultrum)

Unofficial user(s)

Nepal (Nepal-India border alongside theNepalese rupee)

Zimbabwe

Subunit

1/100 Paisa

Symbol

₹

Officially adopted in 2010.

Symbol is derived from the Devanagari consonant "र" (ra) and the Latin letter "R".

The parallel lines at the top (with white space between them) are said to make an allusion to the tricolour Indian flag. It also depict an equality sign that symbolizes the nation's desire to reduce economic disparity.

It was designed by Udaya Kumar Dharmalingam, at the Industrial Design Centre at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

The first series of coins with the rupee symbol was launched on 8 July 2011.

Printer

Reserve Bank of India

Currency Note Press

The design of banknotes is approved by the central government, on the recommendation of the central board of the Reserve Bank of India.

Currency notes are printed at

1. Currency Note Press in Nashik
2. Bank Note Press in Dewas
3. Bharatiya Note Mudra Nigam (P) presses at Salboni and Mysore and
4. Watermark Paper Manufacturing Mill in Hoshangabad.

The current series of banknotes (which began in 1996) is known as the "Mahatma Gandhi series".

Banknotes are issued in the denominations of INR5, INR10, INR20, INR50, INR100, INR500 and INR1000.

The printing of INR5 notes (which had stopped earlier) resumed in 2009.

ATMs usually distribute INR100, INR500 and INR1,000 notes.

The zero rupee note is not an official government issue, but a symbol of protest; it is printed (and distributed) by an NGO in India.

Mint

The Government of India has the only right to mint the coins and one rupee note.

Under The Coinage Act, 1906, the Government of India is charged with the responsibility of the production and supply of coins to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

1. Coin mints: The coins are minted at the four locations of the India Government Mint.
   1. Mumbai, Maharashtra

Bombay (Mumbai) Mint has a diamond under the date of the coin (year of issue).

The Proof coins from this mint have a mint mark ‘B’ or ‘M'.

1. Kolkata, West Bengal

Calcutta mint has no mark under the date of the coin (year of issue). Or it has a "c" mark.

1. Hyderabad, Telangana

Hyderabad Mint has a star under the date of the coin (year of the issue).

The other mint marks from Hyderabad include a split diamond, and a dot in the diamond.

1. Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Noida mint has a dot under the year of issue (coin date).

The INR1, INR2, and INR5 coins have been minted since independence.

Coins minted with the "hand picture" were minted from 2005 onwards.

Besides minting coins, the mints at Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad also make coin blanks.

Mumbai mint produces standardised weights and measures.

Mumbai Mint having state of art Gold refining facility up to 999.9.

Hyderabad Mint having Electrolytic Silver refining facility up to 999.9.

Commemorative coins are made at Mumbai and Kolkata.

Kolkata and Hyderabad have the facilities for making medallions too.

The NOIDA mint was the first in the country to mint coins of stainless steel.

Special coins

These coins are only for commemorative purposes and not circulated.

Languages

Each banknote has its amount written in 17 languages.

On the obverse, the denomination is written in English and Hindi.

On the reverse is a language panel which displays the denomination of the note in 15 of the 22 official languages of India.

The languages are displayed in alphabetical order.

Languages included on the panel are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

Subdivisions during British period

The values of the subdivisions of the rupee during British rule (and in the first decade of independence)

1 rupee = 16 anna (later 100 naye paise)

1 artha rupee = 8 anna, or 1/2 rupee (later 50 naye paise)

1 pavala = 4 anna, or 1/4 rupee (later 25 naye paise)

1 beda = 2 anna, or 1/8 rupee (later equivalent to 12.5 naye paise)

1 anna = 1/16 rupee (later equivalent to 6.25 naye paise)

1 paraka = 1/2 anna (later equivalent to 3.125 naye paise)

1 kani (pice) = 1/4 anna (later equivalent to 1.5625 naye paise)

1 damidi (pie) = 1/12 anna (later equivalent to 0.520833 naye paise)

Current Banknotes

"Mahatma Gandhi Series"

Current Coins

Paisa-Bolta-Hai

A website launched by RBI to raise awareness of counterfeit currency among users of the INR.

Polymer notes

In September 2009, the Reserve Bank of India decided to introduce polymer banknotes on a trial basis.

Initially, 100 crore (1 billion) pieces of polymer INR 10 notes will be introduced.

The polymer notes will have an average lifespan of five years (four times that of paper banknotes) and will be difficult to counterfeit; they will also be cleaner than paper notes.