It is believed that India issued its first coin in the 6th centaury BC however there is ambiguity in this context. The first historical account of the introduction of Indian Rupee dates back to the reign of Sher Shah Suri. Paper Money was introduced in the late 18th century with the emergence of private banks and semi government banks. The notable banks of this period were the Banks of Hindostan, General Bank in Bengal and Bihar, and Bengal Bank.
The 1861 Paper Currency Act provided Government of India the monopoly of issuing notes thus curbing the note issuance authority of Private and Presidency Banks. The contribution of Sir James Wilson, the first Finance Member in the Executive Council of the Viceroy of India and his successor Samuel Laing is significant in the development of paper currency in India.
The Government of India continued to issue currency note till the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was established on 1st April 1935. The RBI started note production in 2, 5, 10, 1000 rupees note whilst the Government continued to issue 1 rupee notes.
After independence the RBI issued other denominations including 5000 and 10,000 rupees notes. In the 1970s, 20 and 50 rupees were introduced but denominations higher than 100 rupees were demonetized in 1978. In 1987, 500 rupee note was reintroduced and in the year 2000, 1000 denomination note was introduced.
The currency notes are printed at currency note press, Nashik, Bank Note Press, Dewas, Bharatiya Note Mudra Nigam (P) Limited presses at Salboni and Mysore and at the Watermark Paper Manufacturing Mill, Hoshangabad.
Each banknote carries its amount written in 17 languages (English and Hindi on the front and 15 others on the back. The notes carry certain security features in the form of watermark, security thread, latent image, microlettering, fluorescence, optically variable ink, see through register, and legal provisions against counterfeiting.
The soiled, mutilated notes can be exchanged at RBI.
