India 2 pc Set 500 1000 Rupees 2000-2016 VF—Demonetized

On the night of 8 November 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared on national television and announced that, effective midnight, India's ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes were no longer legal tender. 86% of India's currency by value was invalidated in a single speech. This set contains both notes — the complete pair that was killed that night. Together they tell the full story of modern India's most dramatic monetary event.

What's in the Set

• P-93/P-99/P-106 — 500 Rupees 2000–2016 VF — Gandhi & Dandi March reverse; Demonetized 2016
• P-94/P-100/P-107 — 1000 Rupees 2000–2016 VF — Gandhi; economic progress reverse; Demonetized 2016

Each note may be any variety within its respective Pick range. Both are Very Fine grade, genuine circulated notes pulled before the demonetization deadline.

500 Rupees — P-93/P-99/P-106

• Colors: yellow, pale orange, and tan underprint; black, dark grey, and dark brown engraving; red serial numbers
• Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at right; RBI coat of arms at bottom-right; Lion Capital of the Ashoka Column at lower right
• Reverse: Dandi March of 1930 — Gandhi and followers in peaceful protest against the British salt monopoly
• Denomination panel in 15 Indian languages on reverse
• Varieties: you may receive any variety:
  • P-93 (2000–2004) — No date on reverse, no ₹ symbol
  • P-99 (2005–2012) — Date on reverse, no ₹ symbol
  • P-106 (2012–2016) — Date on reverse, with ₹ symbol
• Catalog numbers: Pick P-93 / P-99 / P-106; Numista N#202282 / N#202275
• Watermark: Mahatma Gandhi portrait; electrotype 500
• Composition: Cotton paper | Size: 167 × 73 mm (P-93) / 165 × 77 mm (P-99/P-106)
• Issuing entity: Reserve Bank of India | Printer: Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India
• Demonetized: 8 November 2016 (P-99/P-106); 31 December 2016 (P-93)
• Signatures:
  • P-93: Bimal Jalan (BJ) / Yaga Venugopal Reddy (YVR) — Gov., RBI
  • P-99: YVR / Duvvuri Subbarao (DS) — Gov., RBI
  • P-106: DS — Gov., RBI

1000 Rupees — P-94/P-100/P-107

• Colors: pale orange, grey, and tan underprint; black, dark grey, and maroon engraving; red and black serial numbers (P-107)
• Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at right; RBI coat of arms; Lion Capital of the Ashoka Column (P-100/P-107)
• Reverse: symbolic representation of India's economic ambitions — wheat, computer, satellite, factory, oil rig (P-100/P-107); multilingual denomination panel (P-94)
• Denomination "1000" in colour-shifting ink; latent image; windowed security thread — P-107
• Varieties: you may receive any variety:
  • P-94 (2000–2002) — No date on reverse, no ₹ symbol
  • P-100 (2005–2012) — Date on reverse, no ₹ symbol
  • P-107 (2011–2016) — Date on reverse, with ₹ symbol
• Catalog numbers: Pick P-94 / P-100 / P-107; TBB B297 (P-107); Numista N#213473 / N#228557 / N#202272
• Watermark: Mahatma Gandhi portrait; electrotype 1000; "RBI" vertical; "1K" in circle (P-107)
• Composition: Cotton paper | Size: 177 × 73 mm
• Issuing entity: Reserve Bank of India | Printer: Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India
• Demonetized: 8 November 2016
• Signatures:
  • P-94: Bimal Jalan (BJ) / YVR — Gov., RBI
  • P-100: YVR / DS — Gov., RBI
  • P-107: DS / Raghuram G. Rajan (RGR) — Gov., RBI

The March That Shook an Empire

On 12 March 1930, a 61-year-old lawyer-turned-saint walked out of his ashram in Sabarmati with 78 followers and began a 240-mile journey to the sea. His goal: to pick up a handful of salt and break British law. The Dandi March was an act of civil disobedience so simple and so powerful that it electrified the world. By the time Gandhi reached the coast on 6 April 1930, tens of thousands had joined. The British arrested over 60,000 people. It was the beginning of the end of the Raj. That march is frozen on the reverse of the 500 Rupee note you hold.

The Night India's Money Died

At 8:15 PM on 8 November 2016, Modi's announcement sent shockwaves through a country where 90% of transactions were conducted in cash. Lines formed at banks stretching for blocks. ATMs ran dry within hours. Families scrambled to exchange notes before the deadline. The 1000 Rupee note — India's highest denomination — was never reissued. The 500 Rupee was redesigned and returned. But these originals, the notes that circulated through bazaars and rickshaws and tea stalls for up to 16 years, are gone from commerce forever. This pair is what demonetization looked like in your hand.

About India

• Origin of name: From the Indus River (Sanskrit: Sindhu), via Persian Hindu and Greek Indos
  • Origin of name of New Delhi: "Delhi" likely from Hindi dhili (loose) or Raja Dhilu (50 BC); "New" added when the British built the planned capital in 1911
• Capital: New Delhi — city pop. ~250,000; metro pop. ~33 million (NCT of Delhi)
• Population: ~1.44 billion (UN 2024) — roughly 4× the United States
• Area: 3,287,263 km² (1,269,219 mi²) — slightly larger than Argentina; about one-third the size of the United States
• GDP per capita (PPP): ~$10,100 (IMF 2024)
• Main exports: petroleum products, gems and jewelry, pharmaceuticals, machinery, textiles, rice
• Borders: Pakistan (west), China and Nepal (north), Bhutan (northeast), Bangladesh and Myanmar (east)
• Ethnicities: Indo-Aryan (~72%), Dravidian (~25%), Austroasiatic and others (~3%)
• Memberships: United Nations (founding member, 1945); Commonwealth of Nations (1947); Non-Aligned Movement (founding member, 1961); G20; BRICS; WTO; SAARC (founding member)
• Sovereignty: Mughal Empire (1526–1857); British East India Company (1757–1858); British Raj (1858–1947); Independence: 15 August 1947; Republic: 26 January 1950

India Unfiltered

• India has the world's largest democracy — 960 million+ voters in the 2024 general election.
• Zero was invented here — formalized by Brahmagupta in 628 AD.
• The Kumbh Mela is the largest human gathering on Earth — up to 50 million people in a single day, visible from space.
• India became the fourth country to land on the Moon — Chandrayaan-3, lunar south pole, 23 August 2023.
• The 1000 Rupee note was never replaced — the denomination was quietly retired after demonetization. This is the end of a lineage.
• Gandhi appears on every Indian banknote — a man who held no political office, owned almost nothing, and changed the world.

Own the pair that India killed — the two notes that represented 86% of the country's cash, struck down overnight by a prime minister's speech. The 500 Rupee carries the march that ended an empire. The 1000 Rupee carries the ambitions of a rising one. Together, they are one of the most collectible pairs in modern world numismatics.