According to the Coinage Act, 1906, the Government of India has the sole right to mint coins. GOI supplies the coins to Reserve Bank of India which then circulates the coins.
As per the Coinage Act, 1906, coins can be issued up to the denomination of Rs.1000. 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 Coins in the denomination of 1 paise, 2 paise, 3 paise, 5 paise, 10 paise, 20 paise and 25 paise have been withdrawn from circulation with effect from June 30, 2011 and are, therefore, no more legal tender.
RBI has also licence to issue currency notes in the denominations of Rs. 5000 and Rs 10000.
Distribution
Coins are received from the Mints and issued into circulation through its Regional Issue offices/sub-offices of the Reserve Bank and a wide network of currency chests and coin depots maintained by banks and Government treasuries spread across the country. These offices issue coins to the public directly through their counters and also send coin remittances to the currency chests and small coin depots. There are 4422 currency chest branches and 3784 small coin depots spread throughout the country. The currency chests and small coin depots distribute coins to the public, customers and other bank branches in their area of operation.
Coins are minted at the four India Government Mints at
- Mumbai, Maharashtra – established in 1929 by the British Government
- Alipore (Kolkata), West Bengal – established in 1929 by the British Government
- Saifabad and Cherlapally (Hyderabad), Telangana –  established in 1903 by the Government of the erstwhile Nizam of Hyderabad and was taken over by the Government of India in 1950 & started minting since 1953.
- Noida, Uttar Pradesh – set up in 1986 and started minting ferritic stainless steel coins from 1988.
Each mint has its mark on the coin minted by it as shown below:
- Mumbai Mint: The Bombay Mint has a small dot or diamond mint mark under Date of the Coin as
- Kolkata Mint: The Calcutta Mint has No Mint Mark beneath the date of coin as
- Hyderabad Mint: The Hyderabad Mint has five pointed STAR Under the date of coin as
- Noida Mint: The Noida Mint has a small or thick dot under the date of the Coin as
Commemorative coins:
The first Indian commemorative coin was issued in 1964 in remembrance of Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary. Since then, numerous coins from 5 paise (INR 0.05) to ₹1000 (INR 1000.00) have been issued. The first commemorative coin had a bust of Jawaharlal Nehru on observe and was issued in one and half rupee.
- (check title category on where to add it) RBI has also licence to issue currency notes in the denominations of Rs. 5000 and Rs 10000.
