RBI to issue Rs 500 note with Re symbol

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will shortly issue Rs 500 notes which will have the rupee symbol.

The Rs 500 notes will be of the Mahatma Gandhi-2005 Series bearing the signature of RBI Governor D Subbarao and with the year of printing mentioned on the back of the banknote, the apex bank said in a statement.

The design of the notes to be issued is similar in all respects to the existing Rs 500 in Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005 issued earlier, except for the rupee symbol.

However, all the banknotes in the denomination of Rs 500 issued by the RBI in the past will continue to be legal tender.

Last month, the RBI had announced that it will soon introduce notes of Rs 1,000, Rs 100 and Rs 10 denomination featuring the rupee symbol.

The Indian rupee got an unique symbol -- a blend of the Devanagri 'Ra' and Roman 'R' -- last year, joining currencies like the US dollar, euro, British pound and Japanese yen in having a distinct identity.

The new symbol, designed by Bombay IIT post-graduate D Udaya Kumar, was approved in July 2010.