The statutory provisions governing issuance of bank notes and coins currently in force are the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 and the Coinage Act, 2011. Provisions of these Acts do not refer to any standard value of rupee/ coin. The earlier statutes relating to paper currency and coins have been repealed.

Further, in terms of section 26 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, every bank note shall be legal tender at any place in India in payment or on account for the amount expressed therein and shall be guaranteed by the Central Government.

Besides, refund of value of a banknote shall be determined and done in accordance with the Reserve Bank of India (Note Refund) Rules, 2009 [As amended by Reserve Bank of India (Note Refund) Amendment Rules, 2018] read with the “Master Directions on Facility for Exchange of Notes and Coins” as issued from time to time by the Reserve Bank of India.

Banknotes in India are currently being issued in the denomination of ₹10, ₹20, ₹50, ₹100 ₹200, ₹500, and ₹2000*. These notes are called banknotes as they are issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The printing of notes in the denominations of ₹2 and ₹5 has been discontinued and these denominations have been coinised as the cost of printing and servicing these banknotes was not commensurate with their life. However, such banknotes issued earlier can still be found in circulation and these banknotes continue to be legal tender. ₹1 notes are issued by the Government of India from time to time and such notes including those issued in the past also continue to be legal tender for transactions.

*₹2000 denomination notes continue to be legal tender. For more details, please refer to our press release 2023-2024/851 dated September 01, 2023 (https://website.rbi.org.in/web/rbi/-/press-releases/withdrawal-of-%E2%82%B92000-denomination-banknotes-status-56301).

Not necessarily. In terms of Section 24 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, bank notes shall be of the denominational values of two rupees, five rupees, ten rupees, twenty rupees, fifty rupees, one hundred rupees, five hundred rupees, one thousand rupees, five thousand rupees and ten thousand rupees or of such other denominational values, not exceeding ten thousand rupees, as the Central Government may, on the recommendation of the Central Board, specify in this behalf.

The highest denomination note ever printed by the Reserve Bank of India was the ₹10000 note in 1938 which was demonetized in January 1946. The ₹10000 was again introduced in 1954. These notes were demonetized in 1978.

The paper currently being used for printing of banknotes in India is made by using 100% cotton.

Fifteen languages are appearing in the language panel of banknotes in addition to Hindi prominently displayed in the centre of the note and English on the reverse of the banknote.

Yes, it is possible to have two or more banknotes with the same serial number, but they would either have a different Inset Letter or year of printing or signature of a different Governor of RBI. An Inset Letter is an alphabet printed on the Number Panel of the banknote. There can be notes without any inset letter also.

Fresh banknotes issued by Reserve Bank of India till August 2006 were serially numbered. Each of these banknote bears a distinctive serial number along with a prefix consisting of numerals and letter/s. The banknotes are issued in packets containing 100 pieces.

The Bank adopted the "STAR series" numbering system for replacement of defectively printed banknote in a packet of 100 pieces of serially numbered banknotes. The Star series banknotes are exactly similar to the other banknotes, but have an additional character viz., a *(star) in the number panel in the space between the prefixes.

With a view to enhancing operational efficiency and cost effectiveness in banknote printing, non-sequential numbering was introduced in 2011 consistent with international best practices. Packets of banknotes with non-sequential numbering contain 100 notes which are not sequentially numbered.

In terms of Section 25 of the RBI Act, the design, form and material of bank notes shall be such as may be approved by the Central Government after consideration of the recommendations made by Central Board.