Even in the modern World,
where people live peacefully in ‘credit’ and dealing with credit cords and
Online payments – the importance of paper currency cannot be ignored. Commonly, money simply means currency and
coins. Coins in India are presently being issued in denominations of 50 paise,
one rupee, two rupees, five rupees and ten rupees. Coins up to 50 paise are
called 'small coins' and coins of Rupee one and above are called 'Rupee Coins'.
Coins in the denomination of 1 paise, 2 paise, 3 paise, 5 paise, 10 paise, 20
paise and 25 paise have been withdrawn from circulation with effect from June
30, 2011 and are, therefore, no longer legal tender. The Government of India
has the sole right to mint coins. The responsibility for coinage vests with the
Government of India in terms of the Coinage Act, 1906 as amended from time to
time. Coins are minted at the four
India Government Mints at Mumbai, Alipore, Saifabad(Hyderabad), Cherlapally
(Hyderabad) and NOIDA (UP)
The rupee
notes are issued in the denomination of : 1000; 500; 100; 50; 20; 10; 5;2 &
1
..... ..... as most would know – the One rupee note is different from
others. Other than the noted fact that
Re 1 note bears the signature of Secretary of Ministry of Finance – all other
currency notes of India have that of
Governor of RBI – all notes other than One rupee note have printed on them –
‘Guaranteed by the Central Government’’
and “I promise to pay the bearer the sum of .... Rupees” ........
The Currency Department in
RBI attends to the core statutory function of note and coin issue and currency
management. This involves forecasting the demand for fresh notes and
coins, printing and distributing them. Recently,
there has been some discussion on whether Govt. Of India can continue to print
Re.1 currency note, which is put to rest by Law Ministry statement that
Government of India has all the powers to print currency notes of this
denomination. The Government of India also has the sole right to mint coins of
all denominations.
Since the RBI was of the
view that with the repeal of Section 2 of the Currency Ordinance, the
Government of India is not empowered to issue note of denominational value of
one rupee, the law ministry opinion was taken. The Law Ministry in its opinion
stated that the Coinage Act of 2011, which consolidates the laws relating to
coinage and the mints, does not bar the Government of India from printing one
rupee notes. Section 4 of the Act provides that the central government may
authorise minting of coin of denomination not higher than Rs. 1,000, it said,
adding that the definition of coin in the Act makes it clear that Government of
India one rupee note is included in the definition of coin. The Act defines a coin as “made of any metal
or any other material stamped by the Government or any other authority
empowered by the Government in this behalf and which is a legal tender
including commemorative coin and Government of India one rupee note,” the ministry
said in its opinion. “Further, apart from the metal, the coin may be made of
any other material,” it said.
The ministry said while
repealing the Currency Ordinance, 1940, “necessary provisions for inclusion of
Government of India one rupee note within the meaning of ‘Coin’ have been
consciously incorporated in the Coinage Act, 2011. Further, the RBI, as per
Section 24(1) of the RBI Act, 1934, is not empowered to issue bank note of
denomination of value of one rupee.” “Central government is not precluded to
issue one rupee Government of India note under the Coinage Act, 2011. The
dimension, design, material and standard weight of such One Rupee Note have to
be prescribed by the Central Government in terms of Section 4 and 5 of the
Coinage Act, 2011,” the opinion said.
It may not be in
circulation now, but the currency ordinance and right to print still
exist. Incidentally, one could observe
that in the photo – both Re.1 and Rs.2 bear the
signature of Dr Manmohan Singh, who was our PM from 2004 to 2014. The Economist born in Gah worked in various
positions including UN in 1966; some of the key posts held include – advisor to
Ministry of Foreign Trade, Secretary in
Finance Ministry and Governor of Reserve Bank of India.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
11th Sept.
2014.
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