Explained: Mahatma to Mangalyaan, how currency notes evolved in India

Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that efforts to make India wealthy would only bear fruit with blessings from gods and goddesses.

On Wednesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to include images of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi on India’s currency notes in addition to the existing portraits of Mahatma Gandhi.

In an address via videoconference, Kejriwal said that India’s economy was going through a difficult phase and that the rupee was depreciating against the US dollar. He said that efforts to make India wealthy would only bear fruit with blessings from gods and goddesses.

Here are the different types of banknotes that have been issued since Independence, according to the Reserve Bank of India.

Ashoka Pillar banknotes

The first banknote issued since India’s independence was the one-rupee note in 1949. The banknotes were issued with the symbol of the Lion Capital, an Ashokan Pillar at Sarnath, in the watermark window. This icon replaced the portrait of King George V of the UK.
 

The name of the issuer, the denomination and the guarantee clause were printed in Hindi on the new notes from 1951.

In 1970, banknotes with the inscribed words, “Satyameva Jayate”, were introduced. Subsequently, in October 1987, a 500-rupee banknote was introduced with the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi and the Ashoka Pillar watermark.

Mahatma Gandhi Series, 1996

The notes in this series carry the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi on the obverse or front side, replacing the symbol of the Lion Capital of Ashoka. The Lion Capital’s symbol was shifted to the left next to the watermark window. These banknotes contained a Gandhi watermark as well as his portrait. Denominations of these notes ranged from Rs 5 to Rs 1,000 and were introduced from 1996 to 2001.

Mahatma Gandhi Series, 2005

This series was issued in denominations of Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 and included new security features. The notes were introduced from August 2005 to August 2006.

The legal tender of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes under this series was withdrawn from midnight November 8, 2016, when the government announced the demonetisation.

Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series, November 2016

These notes — issued post-demonetisation — are of reduced dimensions and include designs that have been indigenously developed to reflect themes on India’s history and culture. The colour schemes were made sharper to make the notes more noticeable.

The first note in this series was of a new denomination, Rs 2,000, and had a theme of the Mangalyaan Mars orbiter mission.