Facts about Indian Currency, Rupees, Rupya, Printing Press

Facts about Indian Currency – Indian Rupee is the currency of “Republic of India”. The word rupee is derived from the Sanskrit word “Rupayakam”or “Rupya” which means silver coin. Indian Currency notes are printed on the basis of growth of economy, replacement of mutilated notes and reserve requirements. Denomination of Rupee is printed in Hindi and English on the obverse while on the reverse side the value of rupee is printed in 15 official languages of states. These languages appear in alphabetical order on the currency notes. These language are – Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malyalam, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

Historical Facts about Indian Currency

1. The gold, silver and copper coins used during Maurya Empire where known as Swarnrupa, Rupyarupa and Tamrarupa. Rupa is derived from sanskrit which means coin.
2. Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri was the first person in India who started the term Rupya for his silver coins.
3. Paper currency was introduced in India first time by Bank of Hindustan (1770-1832). Some  other private banks which were pioneer in introduction of paper currency were General Bank of Bengal and Bihar and Bengal Bank. However first paper currency issued by Government of India was in year 1864.
4. During British rule the coins issued before 1840 contain effigy of William IV on obverse and value on reverse in English and Persian. After 1840, the coins had queen Victoria on obverse and value on reverse.
5. In 1911 King George V ascended to the throne in England. Elephant engraved coins were started in British India. The elephant poorly engraved looked like pig and this is ill- famously known as pig currency.
6. Reserve Bank of India was founded on 1st April 1935 based on the recommendations of Hilton-Young commission. 
7. The original seal of RBI was “Double Mohur” of East India company with images of Lion and Palm tree. Later Lion was replaced with tiger (national animal of India) however Palm tree existed with the logo of RBI.
8. The central office of RBI was first established in Kolkata in 1935 but was later relocated to Bombay (Mumbai presently) in 1937.
9. RBI kept serving as central bank of Pakistan even after 1 year of partition till june 1948 when State Bank of Pakistan was founded.
10. Anna system (1 Rupee=16 anna) of coins was started on 15 Aug 1950. Several modifications were done in the coins. British King image was replaced by Ashoka Lion pillar. Tiger was removed from the coin and corn sheaf was placed.
11. After the Indian Coinage Amendment Act of 1955, decimal system (1 Rupee=100 naya paisa) in the coins were introduced from 1st April 1957.
12. 1, 2 and 3 paise coins where discontinued in decade of 70s. Stainless steel coins of 10,25, 50 paisa and 1 rupee was started in 1988 and 1992 respectively.

Interesting facts about Indian Currency

1. Highest value currency notes ever introduced by RBI was Rs 10,000. It was introduced in year 1938 but was discontinued in 1946. In year 1954, Rs 1000, Rs 5000 and Rs 10,000 was reintroduced by RBI. All these high denomination notes were demonetised in year 1978.
2. Indian Rupee is accepted in Nepal and Bhutan except Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. Rs 500 and 1000 Indian notes are not legal tender in Nepal and Bhutan and are banned by their governments.
3. Other than Nepal and Bhutan, Zimbabwe also accepts Indian Rupee as legal tender.
4. Commemorative coins of value ₹75, ₹150 and ₹1000 were also first time minted by government of India in year 2010 and 2011. ₹75 was to commemorate platinum jubilee of RBI, ₹150 to commemorate 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, ₹1000 to commemorate 1000 years completion of Brihadeeshwarar Temple of Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu.
5. Angular bleed lines with raised inks are used in new currency notes to help visually impaired identify the denomination of Rupee. ₹100 new notes has 4 bleed lines, ₹500 new note has 5 bleed lines while ₹2000 rupee has 7 bleed lines.
6. Different geometrical patterns with raised prints can be found on left side on Rupee to help visually impaired identify the denomination of Rupee. Diamond is present in ₹1000 (discontinued), circle in ₹500 (old discontinued) and triangle in ₹100 Rupee notes.

Denominations of Indian currency Rupee

Rupee comes in denomination of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 2000. The printing of Rs. 1 and Rs. 2 denominations has been discontinued, however these notes are still in circulation. Coins come in denomination of 1, 2,  5 and 10. One Rupee is divided into 100 units of “Naya Paisa”. Coins of 10paisa, 20 paisa and 25 Paisa have been discontinued and are not longer in use. On 9th Nov 2016 Government of India discontinued the use and transaction of older Rupees 500 and 1000 currency notes. New notes of Rupees 500 and 2000 were started in a drive to extract the black money.

Indian Rupee Symbol

It is blend of Devnagri and Latin words which represent R. This symbol was designed by “Udaya Kumar” and was later adopted by Indian Government as Rupee Symbol.

Printing of Indian Currency

SPMCIL (Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd) It is a government company which comprises of four Mints, four Printing Presses and one Paper mill. This company is responsible for manufacturing and production of Security paper, minting of coins, printing of Currency and Bank notes, Non Judicial Stamp papers, postal stamps, Passports and Visas and Medals and Decorations of various government awards.

Mints of Indian Government

There are four mints used by government of India to produce the coins. These four mints are located at

1. Kolkata (West Bengal)
2. Mumbai (Maharashtra)
3. Hyderabad (Telengana)
4. Noida (UP)

Facts about Mints of India

• The NOIDA mint was the first in the country to mint coins of stainless steel.
• Mint of Mumbai was established in 1829 in Bombay state.It is engaged in producion of commemorative coins.
• The mint of Kolkata not only produces coins but is used for minting numerous medals of Civilian awards like Bharat Ratna, Padma Awards, Galantry awards like Paramveer Chakra, Police awards etc.
• The present working Kolkata mint of Alipore was started by the then Finance Minister, Shri. D. Deshmukh on 19 March 1952.
• Each of the 4 mints bear unique identification marks on their minted coins. Noida mint contains dot, Mumbai mint bears a diamond, Hyderabad mint has a star while there is no mark on Kolkata mint.

Printing Presses of India

There are four Currency Note priting presses, two of which are run by SPMCIL and owned by Indian Government. They are i) Currency Note Press of Nashik(CNP – Nashik)in Maharashtra; ii) Bank Note Press of Dewas(BNP-Devas) in Madhya Pradesh. BNP-Devas is also engaged in ink production which is used for printing currency notes. The other remaining two printing presses are of Bhartiya Note Mudra Nigam, subsidiary of Reserve Bank and owned by Government of India. These are located at Salboni, West Bengal and Mysore, Karnataka.

Paper Mill of SPMCIL, Government of India

Security paper mill of Indian Government is situated in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh. It was established in 1967. It is responsible for production of papers of Currency notes and Non Judicial Stamp.

Countries which has Rupee as their currency

Maldieves – Rufiyah (similar root as Rupya) Pakistan – Pakistani Rupee Sri Lanka- Sri Lankan Rupee Nepal – Nepalese Rupee Mauritus – Mauritian Rupee Seychelles – Seychellois rupee Indonesia – Rupiah

Indian Currency Rupee Vs Currencies of  South Asia at Present

• One Indian Rupee equals to 1.6 Pakistani Rupee.
• One Indian Rupee equals to 1.25 Bangladeshi Taka.
• One Indian Rupee equals to 2.1 Sri Lankan Rupee.
• One Indian Rupee equals to 1.58 Nepalese Rupee.
• One Indian Rupee equals to 0.99 Bhutanese Ngultrum.
• One Chinese Yuan equals to 10.27 Indian Rupee.

Images that appear on Indian Currency

Rupee	Front Side – Images	Reverse Side – Images
One Rupee	National Emblem	Sagar Samrat Oil Rig ONGC
Two Rupee	National Emblem	First Satellite Aryabhatta
Five Rupee	Mahatma Gandhi	Tractor
Ten Rupee	Mahatma Gandhi	Rhino, Elephant, Tiger
Twenty Rupee	Mahatma Gandhi	Mount Harriet, Port Blair
Fifty Rupee	Mahatma Gandhi	Indian Parliament
Hundred Rupee	Mahatma Gandhi	Himalaya Mountains
Five Hundred

(Old)Mahatma GandhiDandi Salt March

(DISCONTINUED)Five HundredMahatma GandhiRed Fort, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan logoOne Thousand (old)Mahatma GandhiSagar Samrat oil Rig ONGC, Agriculture, Iron and Steel Industry, Indian Satellite

(DISCONTINUED)Two ThousandMahatma GandhiMangal Yan (Mars Orbitter, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan logo