Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, March 7, 2019, had unveiled a New Series of Coins of one, two, five, ten and twenty rupees, easily identifiable to the visually impaired.

Narendra Modi has released the first-ever Rs 20 coin which, specially designed for virtually impaired people. The all-new Rs 20 coin, to be issued for the first time in India, will be out there for circulation in accordance with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act. Apart from new Rs 20 coin, the government had unveiled a new series of visually impaired-friendly coins of denominations Re 1, Rs 2, Rs 5 and Rs 10.

“These new coins will be made available for public use shortly,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in the Union Budget 2019-20 presented in Parliament. Citizens can soon use these coins, she said.

All the new coins will have the Ashoka Pillar with ‘Satyameva Jayate’ inscribed below, flanked by the words “‘Bharat” and “India”.

The circulation new series coins with various differentiating features, will greatly aid the visually impaired and will facilitate the visually impaired, and will install them with confidence, PM Modi said while releasing the new coins at an event held at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, New Delhi on March 7, 2019. 

New Series of coins: Key things

  • The new 20 rupee coin isn’t in a circular shape unless every other new series of coins released today. New Rs 20 coin is in polygon shape of 12 edges with a design of grains denoting the agricultural dominance of the country.
  • The ‘Lion Capital of Ashoka Pillar’ is minted on the face of new 20 rupee coin with ‘Satyamev Jayate’ inscribed below it and, while, the denomination value of 20 is minted in international numerals along with the Indian Rupee symbol on the reverse side of the new 20 rupee coin.
  • The outer ring the new 20 rupee coin is made up of nickel silver and the central piece is made of nickel brass. The outside diameter of the new Rs 20 coin is 2.7 centimeters and the weight of the new Rs 20 coin is about 8.54 grams. 
  • ‘Bharat’ in Hindi and ‘India’ in English is minted on the left and right periphery on the face of new Rs 20 coin and the year of minting is inscribed on the center of the left periphery of the new 20 rupee coin in international numerals, such as ‘2019’.
  • All the new series of coins including the new Rs 20 coin have been minted at state-run mints of India namely, Noida (U.P.), Mumbai (Maharashtra), Alipore (Kolkata), Saifabad and Cherlapally (Hyderabad) and the exact dates of the issuance of new series coins of Re 1, Rs 2, Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 20, for circulation is yet to be decided.

The new coins are being released almost 10 years after the Rs. 10 coin was introduced.

Since then, there have been 13 versions of Rs. 10, often leading to confusion. People have claimed that some traders refuse to accept some versions of the 10-rupee coin, assuming them to be fake.