Reserve Bank of India rupee banknotes

Reserve Bank of India rupee banknotes are official paper currency denominations issued by the central banking institution of India. The Reserve Bank of India assumed currency issuing responsibilities in 1935, maintaining continuous paper currency production from late colonial governance through the post-independence republican period. Over the decades, issues have spanned a wide spectrum of denominations, ranging from everyday fractional values such as the 10-rupee note to high-denomination releases including the 2,000-rupee note introduced following the 2016 demonetisation of older 500-rupee and 1,000-rupee currency.

The historical development of these notes is divided across distinct thematic series. The George VI series commenced in 1937 during the colonial era, giving way in the republican era to the Lion Capital series in 1970. In 1996, the bank introduced the Mahatma Gandhi series, which was later redesigned into the Mahatma Gandhi New Series from late 2016 onwards. Circulation policies have evolved over time; in 2014 the bank announced the phased withdrawal of pre-2005 printings, and in May 2023 it initiated the withdrawal of the 2,000-rupee denomination from active circulation after halting its printing during the 2019–20 financial year.

The iconography on the notes reflects India's political and cultural transitions. Obverse designs originally carried the royal portrait of George VI, which was subsequently replaced in independent India by the Ashoka pillar emblem and later by the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi alongside the signature of the Reserve Bank of India's governor. Reverse designs present national imagery such as indigenous fauna, historical architecture including the Sun Temple at Konark, or space achievements like the Mangalyaan probe. A permanent characteristic is the multilingual representation of value: the denomination appears on the obverse in English and Hindi, whilst a dedicated panel on the reverse prints the denomination across multiple regional Indian languages arranged in alphabetical order.