Question

When was paper currency first started in India?

Answer 1

Hint: The first Indian currency note was introduced by the Government of India and not by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve bank of India took over the task of issuing currency notes in 1938.

Complete answer:
The first paper currency note, i.e. the 10 rupees’ note was introduced by the Government of India in the year 1861. In the following years, many notes of different denominations were introduced.
- 5 rupees note in 1872
- 10,000 rupees note in 1899
- 100 rupees note in 1900
- 50 rupees note in 1905
- 500 rupees note in 1907
- 1000 rupees note in 1909
- 1 rupee and 2.5 rupees notes in 1917

All these notes were issued by the Government of India. The Reserve Bank of India started issuing Indian currency notes in 1938. They started printing 2 rupees, 5 rupees, 10 rupees, 50 rupees, 100 rupees, 1,000 rupees and 10,000 rupees notes. The Government of India continued printing 1 rupee note but demonetized the 500 rupees and 2.5 rupees notes.

The 10000 rupees notes were demonetized in 1946, reintroduced along with 5000 rupees notes in 1949 and again discontinued in 1978. All pre-independence currency notes were also discontinued in 1949. The currency notes that were used since India’s independence to 1996 were known as the Lion Capital Series.

Thus, we know that the paper currency notes were first started in India in 1861.

Note:
- Currently, the currency notes that are in circulation are known as the Mahatma Gandhi Series of currency notes. They were introduced in 1996.
- The first notes printed in this series were the 10 rupees and the 500 rupees notes.
- All bank notes of this series have the amount written on it in 17 different languages.