The history of the Indian rupee and interesting facts about it

The "rupee" is India's currency, and the word is centuries old. The Sanskrit "rupya" means "wrought silver", and from it came the word "rupee". Here are the history of the Indian rupee and interesting facts about it — from Sher Shah Suri's coin to today's ₹ sign.

Sher Shah Suri's "rupiya"

Sher Shah Suri, who ruled from 1540 to 1545, issued a standard silver coin of about 11 grams (178 grains), called the "rupiya". The coin was so trusted that the Mughals and later the British kept it going. Today's rupee belongs to that same tradition. Sher Shah also rebuilt the Grand Trunk Road.

Annas, pies and the naya paisa

A rupee used to be divided into 16 annas, an anna into 4 paise and a paisa into 3 pies — so a rupee had 64 paise or 192 pies. On 1 April 1957 India adopted the decimal system, and the rupee was divided into 100 "naye paise" (new paise). A few years later the word "naya" was dropped. The saying "solah aane sach" (sixteen annas true, meaning completely true) still recalls the old system.

Who prints notes, and who makes coins?

• Notes: notes of ₹2, ₹5, ₹10, ₹20, ₹50, ₹100, ₹200, ₹500 and ₹2000 are issued by the Reserve Bank of India and carry the RBI Governor's signature.
• The ₹1 note: it is issued by the Government of India, so it carries the Finance Secretary's signature.
• Coins: coins are minted by the Government of India, and the RBI distributes them across the country.

The story of the ₹ sign

On 15 July 2010 the Government of India adopted a new symbol for the rupee, "₹". It was designed by D. Udaya Kumar, then associated with IIT Guwahati. The sign combines the Devanagari "र" (ra) and the Roman "R", and its two horizontal lines at the top recall the tricolour and the "equals" sign. With it, India joined currencies such as the US dollar, the British pound, the euro and the Japanese yen that have a symbol of their own.

Did you know? Until the 1950s and 1960s the Indian rupee was also used in several Gulf countries — such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. The Reserve Bank printed a separate "Gulf rupee" for them. Later these countries started currencies of their own.

Demonetisation and changing notes

India has withdrawn large notes from circulation a few times — in 1946, in 1978 and again on 8 November 2016, when the old ₹500 and ₹1000 notes were cancelled. After that came the "Mahatma Gandhi New Series" notes, which carry pictures of India's heritage on the back — such as the Konark Sun Temple on the ₹10 note (read The Konark Sun Temple) and Mangalyaan on the ₹2000 note (read Mangalyaan). In May 2023 the RBI announced the withdrawal of the ₹2000 note. Every note's language panel has 15 languages — read Languages of India.

How to recognise a genuine note

• Watermark: held up to the light, it shows a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi and the value.
• Security thread: the note has a thread that changes colour when tilted.
• Colour-shifting ink: on some notes the numeral turns from green to blue when tilted.
• Raised printing: some marks can be felt by touch, for people with visual impairments.

The full story of money: The history of money.

More articles: Interesting facts.