Just as any country did, India too started out with coins since it's earliest currency. Sher Shah Suri (1486-1545) introduced the initial rupee in coin form. Through the years the coin changed its look and then came the British.

Several more coins were added and utilized as official Indian currency and it was only in the year 1861 that the fist Tinted tissue paper money was introduced by the Government of India. In those days, only 10 rupee notes were available. The 20 rupee notes followed in 1864 and progressively, by 1909 there were 5, 100, 1,000 and 10,000 rupees notes in circulation.

The 1 and 2 1/2 rupee notes were introduced in 1917. There was no specific sequence for that release of any particular denomination also it was all in the discretion of the rulers. Custom printed tissue paper over time and here are several interesting facts about them:

- A semblance of standardization arrived to the scene only in 1861 once the Government of India started producing its first Indian paper currency.

- Paper currency production moved in to the realm of the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) in 1938 and 2, 5, 10, 100, 1000 as well as 10,000 rupee notes were manufactured by them while the government continued issuing 1 rupee notes.

- Independence saw the removal of the king's portrait in the paper money and new designs made an entry.

- Through the 1970s, 20 and 50 rupee notes made an appearance and demonetization of all denominations which were higher than 100 rupees happened by the year 2000.

- Interestingly, the rupee was known as legal tender across various countries that were colonized by the British.

- The currency that's in use in India today is recognized as the Mahatma series and was introduced only in 1996.

- These notes are printed at various currency note presses in various cities such as Nashik, Mysore, Dewas, Salboni and Hoshangabad.

- A few of the earliest paper money was made by the Bank of Hindustan (1770-1832). Warren Hastings established the overall Bank of India (1773-1775) as well as the Bengal Bank was also involved in the production of Indian notes (1784-1791).

The variety of India is very appropriately depicted about the notes in that the total amount is written in 17 different languages. While Hindi and English feature around the front, 15 other languages feature on the back. The notes also sport a Mahatma Gandhi watermark, security thread, latent image and micro-lettering, which are security features.