INDIA P112 100 rupees 2022 Plate M UNC—LOW SERIAL 7RA0000xx

The Indian 100 Rupees New Mahatma Gandhi Series note is a collector's favorite for its rich purple palette and its stunning reverse subject — Rani Ki Vav, an 11th-century stepwell in Gujarat and one of India's most architecturally extraordinary UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This example carries a low serial number, making it especially desirable to collectors.

Front

• Colors: purple and orange multicolor underprint with black and dark red engraving
• Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at center
• Denomination in Hindi (₹१००) and Western numerals (₹100)
• Reserve Bank of India seal to the right of Gandhi's portrait, near the bottom
• Statue of three lions (Lion Capital of Ashoka) near bottom-right corner
• Windowed security thread with RBI भारत inscription, visible in six sections; shifts from emerald green to turquoise when tilted
• Signatures: Gov. Shaktikanta Das — Governor, Reserve Bank of India

Back

• Colors: deep purple on lighter purple and orange multicolor underprint
• Rani Ki Vav (Queen's Stepwell), Patan, Gujarat — an 11th-century stepwell and UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Gandhi's glasses below the watermark window
• Denomination inscribed in 15 Indian languages (excluding Hindi and English): Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi (Gurmukhi), Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu
• Swachh Bharat (Clean India) mission logo and slogan: स्वच्छ भारत — एक कदम स्वच्छता की ओर
• Year at upper left; रानी की वाव / RANI KI VAV inscription

Other Characteristics

• Varieties: P-112a (2018, UP, no plate letter) · P-112b (2018, UP, plate letter E) · P-112c (2018, UP, plate letter R) · (2018, UP, plate letter L) · (2019–2021, SD, various plate letters) · P-112 (2022, SD, plate letter M) — this note · (2022–2025, SD/SM, various plate letters)
• Catalog numbers: P-112 · TBB B301 · Numista N#202321
• Watermark: Mahatma Gandhi portrait and electrotype denomination 100
• Composition: Paper
• Size: 142 × 66 mm
• Issuing entity: Reserve Bank of India
• Printer: Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India
• Demonetized: No — legal tender
• Signatures: Gov. Shaktikanta Das — Governor, Reserve Bank of India
• Currency: Indian Rupee (decimalized, 1957–date)
• Official languages: Hindi, English (plus 22 scheduled languages)

About India

• Origin of name: From Indus, derived from the Sanskrit Sindhu — the ancient name of the Indus River; the name passed through Persian and Greek before becoming "India" in English
• Capital: New Delhi (city pop. ~250,000; metro pop. ~33 million)
  • Origin of name: "Delhi" likely derives from the Hindi/Prakrit dhilli or from Dhillu, a Tomar ruler; "New" was added when the British built the planned capital adjacent to the old city, inaugurated in 1931
• Population: ~1.44 billion (UN 2024) — more than the US, Brazil, and Indonesia combined
• Area: 3,287,263 km² (1,269,219 mi²) — roughly the size of the US east of the Mississippi, plus Texas
• GDP per capita (PPP): ~$10,100 (IMF 2024)
• Main exports: Refined petroleum, pharmaceuticals, gems & jewelry, machinery, textiles, rice
• Borders: Pakistan (west), China and Nepal (north), Bhutan (northeast), Bangladesh and Myanmar (east); coastlines on the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal
• Official/spoken languages: Hindi and English (official); 22 scheduled languages including Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, and others; hundreds of regional dialects
• Ethnicities: Indo-Aryan (~72%), Dravidian (~25%), Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burman groups (~3%)
• Memberships: UN (founding member, 1945); Commonwealth of Nations (1947); WTO (1995); G20 (founding member; hosted 2023 summit); BRICS (founding member, 2009); SCO (2017)
• Sovereignty:
  • Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3300–1300 BC) — one of the world's earliest urban cultures
  • Vedic period and Mahajanapadas (c. 1500–300 BC)
  • Maurya Empire (322–185 BC) — first pan-Indian empire under Chandragupta and Ashoka
  • Gupta Empire and regional kingdoms (4th–12th century AD)
  • Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) — Turkic and Afghan Muslim rule over northern India
  • Mughal Empire (1526–1857) — peak of Islamic rule
  • British East India Company (1757–1858) → British Raj (1858–1947)
  • Independence (15 August 1947) — partition into India and Pakistan
  • Republic of India (26 January 1950–date) — this note issued during this period

India Unfiltered

• India is the world's largest democracy by population — over 640 million votes were cast in the 2024 general election alone
• India has the world's largest film industry by number of films produced annually, with Bollywood, Tollywood, and regional industries combined
• The game of chess was invented in India (as chaturanga) around the 6th century AD
• India is home to 38 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including Rani Ki Vav — the very site depicted on this note's reverse
• India launched its Chandrayaan-3 mission in 2023, becoming the first country to land near the Moon's south pole
• Despite being one of the world's largest economies, India's GDP per capita ranks below 130th globally — a stark reminder of the scale of its inequality
• The Kumbh Mela pilgrimage is the largest human gathering on Earth; the 2019 event drew an estimated 200 million people over 49 days

The Father of a Nation on Paper

Mahatma Gandhi has appeared on every Indian rupee banknote since 1996 — a deliberate choice to anchor the currency in the moral authority of the independence movement. The New Mahatma Gandhi Series, introduced from 2016 onward, brought cleaner layouts, enhanced security features, and India's most iconic monuments to the reverse. The 100 rupees note got one of the series' most visually striking choices: Rani Ki Vav.

Rani Ki Vav: A Stepwell Fit for a Queen

Rani Ki Vav — the Queen's Stepwell — was built in the 11th century in Patan, Gujarat, by Queen Udayamati in memory of her husband, King Bhimdev I of the Solanki dynasty. It descends seven stories underground and is lined with over 500 principal sculptures and more than 1,000 minor ones, depicting deities, celestial beings, and scenes from Hindu mythology. Buried under silt for centuries after a flood, it was excavated and restored in the 20th century. UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site in 2014. It is now also featured on the reverse of the ₹100 note — and on the back of the new ₹100 coin.

The Shaktikanta Das Era

This 2022 note bears the signature of Gov. Shaktikanta Das, who served as RBI Governor from December 2018 to December 2024 — the longest tenure in decades. Das navigated the RBI through the COVID-19 economic shock, aggressive rate-cut cycles, and the subsequent inflation surge. His tenure was marked by a pragmatic, government-aligned approach that stood in contrast to his predecessor's more independent stance. Notes signed by Das span a wide range of years and plate letters, making variety collecting within his signature run a rewarding pursuit.

Low Serial Number — A Collector's Premium

This specific note carries a low serial number (7RA000016–97), placing it among the first printed in its block run. Low serials are among the most sought-after varieties in world banknote collecting — prized for their rarity, their visual impact, and the simple fact that someone, somewhere, had to be first. Own this note and you hold Gandhi's gaze, a queen's underground palace, and a number that was almost certainly never meant to end up in a collector's hands.