The Indian 500-rupee banknote (500) is a denomination of the

Indian rupee The Indian rupee (symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use wher ...

. In 1987, the ₹500 note was introduced, followed by the ₹1,000 note in 2000 while ₹1 and ₹2 notes were discontinued in 1995. The current ₹500 banknote, in circulation since 10 November 2016, is a part of the

Mahatma Gandhi New Series The Mahatma Gandhi New Series of banknotes are issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the legal tender of the Indian rupee (), intended to replace the Mahatma Gandhi Series of banknotes. Announced on 8 November 2016, it followed the dem ...

. The previous banknotes of the

Mahatma Gandhi Series The Gandhi Series of banknotes are issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the legal tender of Indian rupee. The series is so called because the obverse of the banknotes prominently display the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. Since its int ...

, in circulation between October 1997 and November 2016, were demonetised on November 8, 2016.

History

The Indian 500-rupee banknote (₹500) is a denomination of the Indian rupee. In 1987, the ₹500 note was introduced, followed by the ₹1,000 note in 2000 while ₹1 and ₹2 notes were discontinued in 1995. The current ₹500 banknote, in circulation since 10 November 2016, is a part of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series. The previous banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series, in circulation between October 1987 and November 2016, were demonetised on 8 November 2016. On 8 November 2016, Indian prime minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

announced the demonetization of the ₹500 banknotes of the

as a measure to fight

corruption in India Corruption in India is an issue which affects economy of central, state and local government agencies in many ways. Corruption is blamed for stunting the economy of India. A study conducted by Transparency International in 2005 recorded that ...

and address the issue of counterfeit banknotes. On 10 November 2016, the previous banknote was replaced by a new 500 banknote of the

of banknotes.

Mahatma Gandhi New Series

Design

The 500 banknote of the

is 66mm x 150mm

Stone Grey Variations of gray or grey include achromatic grayscale shades, which lie exactly between white and black, and nearby colors with low colorfulness. A selection of a number of these various colors is shown below. Chart of computer web color ...

coloured, with the obverse side featuring a portrait of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure ...

as well as the Ashoka Pillar Emblem, with a signature of the governor of

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible f ...

. It has the

Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille display ...

feature to assist the visually challenged in identifying the currency. The reverse side features a motif of the Indian heritage site of

Red Fort The Red Fort or Lal Qila () is a historic fort in Old Delhi, Delhi in India that served as the main residence of the Mughal Emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1638, when he decided to shif ...

, and the logo and a tag line of

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission is a country-wide campaign initiated by the Government of India in 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management. It is a restructured version of ...

Security features

* See through register with denominational numeral 500 * Latent image with denominational numeral 500 * Micro letters ‘RBI’ and ‘500’ on the left side of the banknote * Windowed

security thread A security thread is a security feature of many banknotes to protect against counterfeiting, consisting of a thin ribbon that is threaded through the note's paper. Usually, the ribbon runs vertically, and is "woven" into the paper, so that it a ...

with inscriptions ‘भारत’, RBI and 500 on banknotes with colour shift. Colour of the thread changes from green to blue when the note is tilted * Denominational numeral with Rupee Symbol, 500 in colour changing ink (green to blue) on bottom right *

Ashoka Pillar The pillars of Ashoka are a series of monolithic columns dispersed throughout the Indian subcontinent, erected or at least inscribed with edicts by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka during his reign from c. 268 to 232 BCE. Ashoka used the expressi ...

emblem on the right Mahatma Gandhi portrait and electrotype (500) watermarks * Number panel with numerals growing from small to big on the top left side and bottom right side. * For visually impaired Intaglio or raised printing of Mahatma Gandhi portrait, Ashoka Pillar emblem, five bleed lines and identity mark * Circle with 500 in raised print on the right

Mahatma Gandhi Series

Design

The 500 banknote of the

is 167 × 73 mm Orange-yellow coloured, with the obverse side featuring a portrait of

with a signature of the governor of the

. It has the

feature to assist the visually challenged in identifying the currency. The reverse side features the

Gyarah Murti Gyarah Murti is a monument located in New Delhi, India, commemorating the Indian independence movement, country's struggle for independence under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. D. P. Roy Choudhury, Devi Prasad Roy Choudhury is credited as its ...

. As of 2011, the new sign has been incorporated into banknote of 500. In January 2014 RBI announced that it would be withdrawing from circulation all banknotes printed prior to 2005 by 31 March 2014. The deadline was later extended to 1 January 2015. Further deadline was extended until 30 June 2016.

Security features

The security features of the 500 banknote includes: *A windowed

that reads 'भारत' (''Bharat in the

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the a ...

script'') and 'RBI' alternately. *

Latent image {{citations needed, date=November 2015 A latent image is an invisible image produced by the exposure to light of a photosensitive material such as photographic film. When photographic film is developed, the area that was exposed darkens and form ...

of the value of the banknote on the vertical band next to the right hand side of Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait. *

Watermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations ...

that is a mirror image of the main portrait. *The number panel of the banknote is printed in embedded

fluorescent Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, th ...

fibers and optically variable ink. *Since 2005 additional security features like machine-readable security thread, electrotype watermark, and year of print appears on the bank note.

Discontinuation

Starting from midnight 8 November 2016 all ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes of the

ceased to be a form of

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in pa ...

after a televised address to India by Prime Minister

Languages

As like the other

banknotes, the 500 banknote has its amount written in 17 languages. On the obverse, the denomination is written in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

and

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

. On the reverse is a language panel which displays the denomination of the note in 15 of the 22

official languages of India There is no national language in India. However, article 343(1) of the Indian constitution specifically mentions that, "The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official pu ...

. The languages are displayed in alphabetical order. Languages included on the panel are

Assamese Assamese may refer to: * Assamese people, a socio-ethnolinguistic identity of north-eastern India * People of Assam, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious people of Assam * Assamese language, one of the easternmost Indo-Aryan language ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Barua ...

, Konkani,

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

Nepali Nepali or Nepalese may refer to : Concerning Nepal * Anything of, from, or related to Nepal * Nepali people, citizens of Nepal * Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

References

{{Indian currency Banknotes of India Rupee Five-hundred-base-unit banknotes Currencies introduced in 1997 https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/the-history-of-the-indian-currency-notes-and-its-evolution-1472803179-1