₹2 — Two Rupees
The artwork
Front: Sober brick-red printing on pale paper. The Lion Capital of Ashoka fills a panel at the right, with सत्यमेव जयते beneath it; the Reserve Bank's name stands in Hindi above English across the top, followed by "Guaranteed by the Central Government" and the promise to pay the bearer two rupees, set out in Hindi and English on either side of a large figure 2. The Governor signs below, and the oval at the left is left blank for the watermark. "दो रूपये" runs along the foot beside the serial, 62V 050320.
Back: A Bengal tiger, mouth open, standing full length in tall grass with low hills and trees behind — the vignette that gives the note its collectors' name. At the left, a framed panel gives the denomination in the official languages, script after script down the page. The Reserve Bank seal, with its palm tree and tiger, sits at the centre of the lower border between "दो रूपये" and "TWO RUPEES"; the watermark oval is at the right.
In circulation
The tiger reverse carried the two-rupee note through the 1970s, 1980s and into the 1990s, printed in great quantity under a succession of Governors. Small notes were then given up in favour of coin: the one- and two-rupee notes ceased to be issued in the mid-1990s, and the Mahatma Gandhi series of 1996 began at ten rupees.
Details
- IssuerReserve Bank of India — guaranteed by the Central Government
- CurrencyRupee (₹)
- DenominationTwo Rupees
- Collectedon the India journeys, 1992–2018
- SeriesTwo rupees, Lion Capital front with tiger reverse
- WatermarkLion Capital of Ashoka, in the blank oval at the left of the front
- SignatureGovernor, Reserve Bank of India, titled in both Hindi and English