Indian Currency System - Concept - RBI’s Clean Note Policy:
It is an Education campaign on preferred way to handle notes:

• no stapling, writing, excessive folding

Timely removal of soiled notes:

• use of currency verification and processing systems and sorting machines

Exchange facility for torn, mutilated or defective notes:

• at all branches of commercial banks

Indian Currency System - Currency - Coins:

• The Government of India has the sole right to mint coins.


• The responsibility for coinage vests with the Government of India in terms of the Coinage Act, 1906 as amended from time to time.


• The designing and minting of coins in various denominations is also the responsibility of the Government of India.


• Coins are minted at the four India Government Mints at Mumbai, Ali pore(Kolkata), Saifabad(Hyderabad), Cherlapally (Hyderabad) and NOIDA (UP).


• The coins are issued for circulation only through the Reserve Bank in terms of the RBI Act.

Indian Currency System - Currency - Contemporary Coins:
Five Rupee Coins (New):

Five Rupee Coins (Old):

Two Rupee Coins (New):

Two Rupee Coins (Old):

One Rupee Coin:

Fifty Paise:

Twenty Five Paise:

Ten Paise:

For Complete Information of Contemporary Coins: Source Click Here
Indian Currency System - Currency - Denominations:

• Coins in India are presently being issued in denominations of 50 paise, one rupee, two rupees, five rupees and ten rupees.


• Coins up to 50 paise are called small coins and coins of Rupee one and above are called Rupee Coins.


• Coins in the denomination of 1 paise, 2 paise, 3 paise, 5 paise, 10 paise, 20 paise, and 25 paise have been withdrawn from circulation with effect from June 30, 2011, and are, therefore, no more legal tender.


• Coins can be issued up to the denomination of Rs.1000 as per the Coinage Act, 1906.

Indian Currency System - Currency - Contemporary Bank Notes:
Hundred Rupees Note:

Fifty Rupees Note:

Twenty Rupees Note:

Ten Rupees Note:

Five Rupees Note:

To Know Contemporary Bank Notes Security Features and Language Panel: Source Click Here

• Banknotes in India are currently being issued in the denomination of Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 200, Rs 500, Rs 1000 and Rs 2000.


• These notes are called banknotes as they are issued by the Reserve Bank of India (Reserve Bank).


• The printing of notes in the denominations of Rs 2 and Rs5 has been discontinued.


• Rs 1 was also not being printed since long due to coinization.

Indian Currency System - Currency - Specified Bank Notes:
Thousand Rupees Note:

Five Hundred Rupees Note:

To Know Specified Bank Notes Security Features and Language Panel: Source Click Here
Government note:
Any note issued by Central Government or supplied by the Central Government to the Bank and issued by the Bank, provided the liability for the payment of the value in respect of such note has devolved on and been taken over by the Bank.
Imperfect note:
Any note, which is wholly or partially, obliterated, shrunk, washed, altered or indecipherable but does not include a mutilated note.
Mutilated note:
A note of which a portion is missing or which is composed of more than two pieces.
Soiled note:
A note which, has become dirty due to usage and also includes a two piece note pasted together where in both the pieces presented belong to the same note and form the entire note.

Indian Currency System - Currency - New Series Bank Notes:
Two Thousand Rupees Note:

Five Hundred Rupees Note:

Two Hundred Rupees Note:

Hundred Rupees Note:

To Know the key points of New 1000 Rupees Note : Source
Fifty Rupees Note:

Ten Rupees Note:

To Know the Complete details of the New Series bank notes: Source Click Here

Indian Currency System - Currency - Key Points:
Bank notes are legal tender at any place in India for payment without limit. According to the Indian Coinage Act

• A coin of any denomination not lower than one rupee, for any sum not exceeding one thousand rupees.


• A half-rupee coin, for any sum not exceeding ten rupees.


• Any other coin, for any sum not exceeding one rupee.

Indian Currency System - Currency - legal tender:
The coins issued under the authority of Section 6 of The Coinage Act, 2011, shall be legal tender in payment or on account i.e. provided that a coin has not been defaced and has not lost weight to be less than such weight as may be prescribed in its case

• Coin of any denomination not lower than one rupee shall be legal tender for any sum


• Half rupee coin shall be legal tender for any sum not exceeding ten rupees

Why is One Rupee liability of the Government of India?

• The One Rupee notes issued under the Currency Ordinance, 1940 are also legal tender and included in the expression Rupee coin for all the purposes of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.


• Since the rupee coins issued by Government constitute the liabilities of the Government, one rupee is also the liability of the Government of India.

What was the highest denomination note ever printed?

• The highest denomination note ever printed by the Reserve Bank of India was the Rs 10000 note in 1938 and again in 1954.


• These notes were demonetized in 1946 and again in 1978.

Who is responsible for changing the design of coins from time to time?

• The Government of India is responsible for the designing and minting of coins in various denominations.

What is currency paper made of?

• Currency paper is composed of cotton and cotton rag.

Who decides on the volume and value of banknotes to be printed and on what basis?

• RBI based on the demand requirement indicates the volume and value of banknotes to be printed each year to the Government of India which gets finalized after mutual consultation.


• The quantum of banknotes to be printed, broadly depends on the requirement for meeting the demand for banknotes, GDP growth, replacement of soiled banknotes, reserve stock requirements, etc.


• The Government of India decides on the number of coins to be minted on the basis of indents received from the Reserve Bank.

How does the Reserve Bank estimate the demand for banknotes?

• RBI estimates the demand for bank notes on the basis of the growth rate of the economy, inflation rate, the replacement demand, and reserve stock requirements by using statistical models/techniques.

What is a currency chest?

• To facilitate the distribution of banknotes and rupee coins, the Reserve Bank has authorized select branches of scheduled banks to establish currency chests.
  
• These are actually stored houses where banknotes and rupee coins are stocked on behalf of the Reserve Bank.

What is a small coin depot?

• Some bank branches are authorised to establish Small Coin Depots to stock small coins i.e. coins below Rupee one.


• The Small Coin Depots also distribute small coins to other bank branches in their area of operation.

What is a counterfeit note

• A suspectedcounterfeit note, forged note, or fake note is any note which does not possess the characteristics of genuine Indian currency note.

• While retaining the same designs the new banknotes were issued with the symbol of Lion Capital of Ashoka Pillar at Sarnath in the watermark window in place of the portrait of King George.


• The name of the issuer, the denomination, and the guarantee clause was printed in Hindi on the new banknotes from the year 1951.


• The banknotes in the denomination of Rs 1000, Rs 5000 and Rs 10000 were issued in the year 1954.

• The banknotes in MG Series –1996 were issued in the denominations of Rs 5, (introduced in November 2001) Rs 10 (June 1996), Rs 20 (August 2001), Rs 50 (March 1997), Rs 100 (June 1996), Rs 500 (October 1997) and Rs 1000 (November 2000).


• All the banknotes of this series bear the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi on the obverse (front) side, in place of the symbol of Lion Capital of Ashoka Pillar, which has also been retained and shifted to the left side next to the watermark window.


• This means that these banknotes contain Mahatma Gandhi water marks as well as Mahatma Gandhi's portrait.

• MG series 2005 bank notes are issued in the denomination of Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1000 and contain some additional/new security features as compared to the 1996 MG series.


• The Rs 50 and Rs 100 banknotes were issued in August 2005, followed by Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations in October 2005 and Rs 10 and Rs 20 in April 2006 and August 2006, respectively.