Modern Indian Coins

Coins of the Indian rupee were first minted in 1950. New coins have been produced annually since then and they make up a valuable aspect of the Indian currency system. Today, circulating coins exist in denominations of 50 p (i.e. 50 paisa or ₹0.50), ₹1, ₹2, ₹5, and ₹10. All of these are produced by four mints located across India, in Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Noida.

After the Indian independence, the old British India coins continued to be in use as a frozen currency till 1950, when India became a Republic. The first rupee coins of Republic of India were minted in 1950. Other denomination coins produced were 1/2 rupee, 1/4 rupee, 2 Anna, 1 Anna, 1/2 Anna & 1 Pice coins which are also referred as Anna series or pre-decimal coinage. One rupee was divided into 16 annas or 64 pice, with each anna therefore equal to 4 pice.

In 1957, India shifted to the decimal system, but for a short period both decimal and non-decimal coins were in circulation. To distinguish between the two pice, the coins minted between 1957 and 1964 have the legend "Naya Paisa" ("new" paisa). The denominations in circulation were 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50 (naya) paisa and one rupee which remained as the same pre-decimal value. Therefore pre-decimal coins of one, half and quarter rupees could remain in circulation after decimalisation.

The word "naya" was dropped in 1964. In this year a new denomination the 3 paisa was introduced and in 1968 a 20 paisa coin was minted. Both these coins however did not gain much popularity. The 1, 2 and 3 paisa coins were phased out gradually in the 1970s. In 1982 a new coin, 2 rupee, was introduced as an experiment to replace 2 rupee notes. The 2 rupee coin was not minted again till 1990, after which it was minted every year.

Stainless steel coinage of 10, 25 and 50 paisa, was introduced in 1988 and in 1992, a new rupee coin was minted. This coin was smaller and lighter than the older rupee and was also made of stainless steel. In 1992, a 5 rupee Cupronickel coin was introduced. In 2005, 10 rupee coin was minted for the first time. The higher denomination coins were introduced due to increasing demand for change and increasing cost of printing 2, 5 and 10 rupee banknotes.

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Wikipedia