₹5 — Five Rupees
The artwork
Front: The Lion Capital of Ashoka from Sarnath, framed in a scrolled cartouche with सत्यमेव जयते beneath — the state emblem that fronted Indian notes before Gandhi took over. Above, the issuer in Devanagari and English with the central government guarantee; left, a rosette holding the numeral 5 and the promise to pay the bearer five rupees in both scripts. The Reserve Bank seal with its palm and tiger sits lower left, the language panel right, and the serial 82G 274959 runs across the foot.
Back: A farmer on a wheeled tractor drawing a mounted plough through freshly turned earth, low hills behind and an orange sun on the horizon — the Green Revolution rendered as a working morning in the fields. A tall ornamental panel on the left carries the numeral 5 in a flower medallion; FIVE RUPEES stands in outlined capitals along the base above a border of stylised buds.
In circulation
The tractor reverse was introduced in the mid-1970s and stayed in print, with successive governors' signatures, into the 1990s. It was gradually displaced as five-rupee coins took over daily change, and the denomination returned to paper only with the Mahatma Gandhi series note of the early 2000s.
Details
- IssuerReserve Bank of India — भारतीय रिज़र्व बैंक; guaranteed by the Central Government
- CurrencyRupee (₹)
- DenominationFive Rupees
- Collectedon the India journeys, 1992–2018
- SeriesLion Capital front with tractor reverse, five rupees
- WatermarkAshoka Pillar lion capital, in the plain oval panel at left
- SignatureSingle signature of the Governor, Reserve Bank of India, at lower centre
- Dimensions117 × 63 mm