The Reserve Bank of India will shortly issue ₹ 500 denomination banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi(New) series with the inset letter ‘E’ in both the number panels, bearing the signature of Dr. Urjit R. Patel Governor, Reserve Bank of India, the year of printing '2016’ and Swachh Bharat Logo printed on the reverse of the Banknote.

Some of the captioned banknotes will have an additional character ‘*’ (star) in the number panel in the space between the prefix and the number. Packets containing these notes will have 100 pieces as usual but not in serial order. To facilitate easy identification of note packets containing ‘star’ notes the bands on such packets will clearly indicate the presence of these notes in the packet. ‘Star’ banknotes in ₹ 500 denomination are being issued for the first time. ‘Star’ banknotes in the denomination of ₹ 10, 20, 50 and 100 are already in circulation . The rationale and the scheme of introduction of ‘Star’ banknotes were detailed in the Press Release No. 2005-2006/1337 dated April 19, 2006

All ₹ 500 banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series, issued from November 8, 2016 onwards, will continue to be legal tender.

Ajit Prasad
Assistant Adviser

Press Release : 2016-2017/1549