Pakistan P-57 75 Rupees 2023 UNC—75 Yrs State Bank—Mother of the Nation

A commemorative note marking 75 years of the State Bank of Pakistan — and one of the more unusual modern issues in South Asian numismatics, featuring a non-standard denomination that confounded shopkeepers and rarely circulated despite being legal tender.

Front

• Colors: navy blue engraving; aqua/mint green background; color-shifting copper-to-lime "75" numeral
• Building: State Bank of Pakistan headquarters in Karachi — the colonial-era building that has anchored Pakistani monetary policy since independence
• Portrait: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah — founder and first Governor-General of Pakistan
• Denomination: 75 (color-shifting ink: copper brown to lime green when tilted); ۷۵ in Urdu numerals upper left
• Lettering: بینک دَولتِ پاکِستان (State Bank of Pakistan) / 75 / Seventy Five Rupees (Urdu script)
• Signatures: Gov. Jameel Ahmed

Back

• Colors: navy blue engraving; aqua/mint green background; dark green and gold "75" numeral
• Portrait: Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah — sister of the founder, dentist, politician, and "Mother of the Nation"
• Imagery: Wind turbines and solar panels — representing Pakistan's renewable energy ambitions
• Bank logo: State Bank of Pakistan commemorative emblem
• Lettering: STATE BANK OF PAKISTAN / 75 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE / SEVENTY FIVE RUPEES

Other Characteristics

• Varieties: TBB 241ar (Replacement, prefix Z); TBB 241as (Specimen, $120); TBB 241a (Issued) — this note
• Catalog numbers: P-57; TBB B241a; Numista N#370853
• Watermark: Portrait of Quaid-i-Azam M.A. Jinnah & "75"
• Security features: Color-shifting ink on ۷۵ (copper brown → lime green); windowed holographic security thread
• Composition: Paper
• Size: 139 × 65 mm
• Issuing entity: State Bank of Pakistan
• Printer: Pakistan Security Printing Corporation (PSPC), Pakistan
• Issued: 2023
• Demonetized: No — legal tender, though rarely accepted in practice (see below)
• Signatures: Gov. Jameel Ahmed
• Currency: Pakistani Rupee (decimalized, 1961–date)

The Note Nobody Would Accept

This is one of the more curious stories in modern South Asian banknote history. The 75 Rupees note is legal tender — issued by the State Bank of Pakistan, printed by the national security printer, signed by the Governor. And yet shopkeepers across Pakistan routinely refused to accept it.

The reason: 75 fits nowhere in Pakistan's existing denomination ladder (10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000). Shopkeepers, unfamiliar with the note and skeptical that banks would accept it in turn, simply declined to take it. The note never entered meaningful circulation despite being issued. For collectors, this makes it a genuine rarity in used condition — most examples are UNC simply because they were never spent.

Jinnah & Fatima: The Founding Siblings

Mohammed Ali Jinnah (1876–1948) is one of the 20th century's most consequential statesmen — a barrister trained in London who became the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan in 1947. He served as the country's first Governor-General until his death from tuberculosis just 13 months after independence. His image appears on virtually every Pakistani banknote ever issued.

Fatima Jinnah (1893–1967) — his younger sister — was a dentist, political organizer, and one of the most prominent women in Pakistani public life. She campaigned tirelessly for independence alongside her brother, and after his death became a leading opposition figure, running for president in 1965 against Ayub Khan in an election widely believed to have been stolen. She is known as Mādar-e Millat — Mother of the Nation. Her appearance on this note, alongside her brother, makes it one of the few Pakistani notes to feature two members of the same family.

Green Energy on a Green Note

The wind turbines and solar panels on the reverse are not decorative — they reflect a deliberate policy statement. Pakistan has invested heavily in renewable energy infrastructure, particularly wind power in the Sindh corridor and solar projects in Punjab. By 2023, renewables accounted for a growing share of Pakistan's electricity mix, and the State Bank chose to mark its 75th anniversary by linking monetary stability to an energy-secure future. It's an unusually forward-looking image for a commemorative banknote.

About Pakistan

• Origin of name: Acronym coined in 1933 by Choudhry Rahmat Ali — Punjab, Afghania (NWFP), Kashmir, Sindh, and Baluchistan; also means "Land of the Pure" in Urdu/Persian (pāk = pure, -stan = land)
• Capital: Islamabad (city pop. ~1.2 million; metro ~2.2 million)
  • Origin of name: From Arabic/Persian Islāmābād — "City of Islam" (islām + ābād, a Persian suffix meaning "inhabited place" or "city")
• Population: ~240 million (UN 2024) — 5th most populous country in the world; comparable to Brazil
• Area: 881,913 km² (340,509 mi²) — roughly the size of Texas and New Mexico combined
• GDP per capita (PPP): ~$6,700 (IMF 2024)
• Main exports: Textiles and garments (~60% of exports), rice, leather goods, surgical instruments, chemicals
• Borders: India (east), Afghanistan (northwest), Iran (west), China (northeast); Arabian Sea (south)
• Official/spoken language: Urdu (official/national); English (official, government/legal); regional languages: Punjabi (~44%), Pashto (~15%), Sindhi (~14%), Saraiki, Balochi, and others
• Ethnicities: Punjabi (~44%), Pashtun (~15%), Sindhi (~14%), Saraiki (~11%), Muhajir (~8%), Baloch (~4%), other
• Memberships: United Nations (1947); Commonwealth of Nations (1947, suspended 1999–2004); OIC (founding member, 1969); SAARC (founding member, 1985); SCO (2017); nuclear-armed state (declared 1998)
• Sovereignty:
  • Ancient civilizations — Indus Valley Civilization (3300–1300 BC), one of the world's earliest urban cultures; centered on Mohenjo-daro and Harappa (both in modern Pakistan)
  • Successive empires — Achaemenid Persian, Macedonian (Alexander the Great), Maurya, Kushan, Gupta
  • Islamic conquests (711 AD) — Muhammad bin Qasim conquers Sindh; Islam takes root
  • Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire (1206–1857) — Lahore a major Mughal capital
  • British colonial rule (1858–1947) — part of British India following the 1857 uprising
  • Independence (August 14, 1947) — Pakistan created as a separate Muslim-majority state at partition; accompanied by one of history's largest and most violent mass migrations (~14 million displaced)
  • East Pakistan secedes (1971) — becomes Bangladesh after a brutal civil war and Indian military intervention
  • Islamic Republic of Pakistan (1956–date) — alternating civilian and military governments; nuclear tests 1998; this note issued during this period

Pakistan Unfiltered

• Pakistan is home to the second-largest salt mine in the world — the Khewra Salt Mine in Punjab, which has been mined since the 13th century and produces the famous pink Himalayan salt
• The Indus Valley Civilization, centered in modern Pakistan, had flush toilets and urban sewage systems around 2500 BC — millennia before Rome
• Pakistan has more glaciers than anywhere outside the polar regions — over 7,000 in the Karakoram, Hindu Kush, and Himalayan ranges; and they are melting rapidly
• The Karakoram Highway, connecting Pakistan to China through some of the world's highest terrain, is often called the "Eighth Wonder of the World" — it took 20 years and cost hundreds of lives to build
• Pakistan's truck art tradition — elaborately hand-painted commercial trucks covered in floral patterns, calligraphy, and portraits — is recognized as one of the world's most distinctive folk art forms
• Despite chronic economic instability, Pakistan has never defaulted on its external debt — though it has come close multiple times and relies heavily on IMF bailouts

Own this UNC commemorative from Pakistan's 75th anniversary of the State Bank — a note that was legal tender but too unusual to spend, bearing the founding siblings of a nation and a vision of renewable energy on its reverse. A standout piece for South Asian, commemorative, or modern issue collections.