Currency Printing In India and Features of new 2000 and 500 Rupee Notes

RBI has issued new 500 & 2000 Rupee notes in Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series. Few important things to note regarding currency printing in India are:

• The rupee is named after the silver coin, rupiya, first issued by Sultan Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century.

• Section 22 of the RBI Act 1934 makes provided that RBI has the sole right to issue Bank notes of all denominations. Thus, Reserve Bank is responsible for the design, production and overall management of the nation’s currency, with the goal of ensuring an adequate supply of clean and genuine notes.

• The Union Government has the power to print 1 Rupee note only and mint coins of all denominations. Section 4 of same act limits power of Union Government as it can mint coins only upto 1000 Rupees.

• Before enactment of Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003 (FRBMA), whenever, the Union Government had shortage of domestic currency, it requested RBI to print such amount of currency, this led to inflation and instability. But the FRBMA act of 2003 discontinued such practice.  The Act provided that the Central Government shall not borrow from the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) except under exceptional circumstances where there is temporary shortage of cash in particular financial year.

• Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) is an Indian government-owned corporation that engages in the production of bank notes, coins, non–judicial stamps, postage stamps, and other government related documents for India. It has currency printing press located at –
  • Nasik, Maharashtra
  • Dewas, Madhya Pradesh

• Apart from SPMCI,Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Pvt. Ltd. (BRBNMPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank, also is engaged in currency printing. The currency presses of BRBNMPL are located at-
  • Mysore in Karnataka
  • Salboni in West Bengal.

• The money printed by RBI is called as high powered money or reserve money.

• Indian Rupee forms part of Fiat money. Fiat money is type of money that has no value of its own example money made of paper. The source of its value is that it is made legal tender by a government decree.

Now let us examine the features of these new notes:

Features of 2000 Rupee Note:

The new ₹ 2000 banknotes are different from the earlier specified bank note (SBN) series in colour, size, theme, location of security features and design elements; the principal features are –

• The size is 66mm x 166mm
• The colour is magenta
• Motif of Mangalayan ,depicting the country’s first venture into the interplanetary space, is on the reverse.
• They have two types: One without any inset letter & other with inset letter “R“.

Inset letter – Letter in the series of Number written on notes.

Front side:

1. See through register where the numeral 2,000 can be seen when note is held against light

2. Latent image of 2,000 can be seen when the note is tilted

3. Devanagari denomination – 2000 Rupee

4. Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi

5. Micro letters ‘RBI’ and ‘2,000’

6. Windowed security thread with inscriptions ‘भारत’, RBI and 2000 on banknotes with colour shift. Colour of the thread changes from green to blue when the note is tilted

7. Guarantee clause, Governor’s signature and RBI emblem on the right

8. Watermarks of Mahatma Gandhi and electrotype 2,000 numeral

9. Number panel with numerals growing from small to big on top left and bottom right sides

10. Denominational numeral with Rupee symbol, 2,000 in colour changing ink – colour changing ink (green to blue) on bottom right

11. Ashoka pillar emblem

For visually impaired:

12. Rectangle with Rs.2,000 in raised print on right

13. Seven angular bleed lines in raised print

Reverse Back:

14. Denominational numeral २००० in Devnagari

15. Swachh Bharat logo with slogan

16. Language panel towards the centre

17. Motif of Mangalayan

Features of 500 Rupee Note:

The new ₹ 500 banknotes are different from the earlier specified bank note (SBN) series in colour, size, theme, location of security features and design elements; the principal features are –

• The size is 66mm x 150mm
• The colour is stone grey
• Red Fort-an image of Indian heritage site with Indian flag on the reverse
• The new 500 Rupee notes can either be with “E” or “L” as inset letter. While, the new 500 Rupee notes

Front Side Features:

1. See through register in denomination numeral

2. Latent image of the denomination numeral

3. Denomination numeral in Devnagari

4. Orientation of Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait changed

5. Windowed security thread changes from green to blue when note is tilted

6. Guarantee clause, Governor’s signature, RBI emblem shifted towards right

7. Portrait and electrotype watermarks

8. Number panel with numerals growing from small to big on top left and bottom right sides

9. Denomination in nuemrals with Rupee symbol in colour changing ink (green to blue) on bottom right

10. Ashoka pillar emblem on right

For visually impaired:

11. Circle with Rs. 500 in raised print on the right

12. Bleed lines on left and right in raised print

Reverse Back Features:

13. Year of printing of the note on the left (2016).

14. Swachh Bharat logo with slogan

15. Language panel towards the centre

16. Motif of Red Fort

17. Denominational numeral 5०० in Devnagari