Pakistan Rupee

The rupee (sign: Rs; code: PKR) is the currency of Pakistan. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the State Bank of Pakistan, the central bank of the country. The most commonly used symbol for the rupee is Rs, used on receipts when purchasing goods and services. In Pakistan, the rupee is referred to as the "rupees", "rupaya" or "rupaye". As standard inPakistani English, large values of rupees are counted in terms of thousands, lakh (100 thousand, in digits 1,00,000) and crore (10 million, in digits 1,00,00,000

History

The origin of the word "rupee" is found in the Sanskrit word rūp

or rūpā, which means "silver" in many Indo-Aryan languages. The Sanskrit word

rūpyakam (रूप्यक) means coin of silver. The derivative word Rūpaya was used to denote the coin introduced by Sher Shah Suri

during his reign from 1540 to 1545 CE.

The Pakistani rupee was put

into circulation after the country became independent from theBritish

Rule in 1947. For the first few months of independence, Pakistan used Indian coins and notes with "Pakistan" stamped on them.

New coins and banknotes were issued in 1948. Like the Indian rupee, it was originally divided into 16 annas

(آن), each of 4 pice (پيس) or 12 pie (پاى). The currency was decimalised on 1 January 1961, with the rupee

subdivided into 100 pice, renamed (in English) paise (singular paisa) later the same year. However, coins denominated in paise

have not been issued since 1994.

COINS

In 1948, coins were introduced in denominations of 1 pice, ½, 1 and 2 annas, ¼, ½ and 1 rupee. 1 pie coins

were added in 1951. In 1961, coins for 1, 5 and 10 pice were issued, followed later the same year by 1 paisa,

5 and 10 paise coins. In 1963, 10 and 25 paise coins were introduced, followed by 2 paise the next year. 1

rupee coins were reintroduced in 1979, followed by 2 rupees in 1998 and 5 rupees in 2002. 2

paise coins were last minted in 1976, with 1 paisa coins ceasing production in 1979. The 5, 10, 25 and 50 paise all ceased production in

1994. There are two variations of 2 rupee coins; most have clouds above the Badshahi Masjid but many don't have. This is noted by very few

people. The one and two rupee coins were changed to aluminium in 2007

Currently Circulating Coins
Depiction (Front)	Depiction (Back)	Value	Year in Use	Composition	Front Illustration	Back Illustration
		Re. 1	1998 - Present	Bronze and Aluminium	Quaid-e-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah	Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Mausoleum, Sehwan Shareef
		Rs. 2	1998 - Present	Brass andAluminium	Crescent and Star	Badshahi Masjid, Lahore
		Rs. 5	2002 - Present	Cupro-nickel	Crescent and Star
For table standards, see the coin specification table.

Banks Note

In 1947, provisional issues of banknotes were made, consisting of

Government of India and Reserve Bank of India notes for 1, 2, 5, 10 and 100 rupees overprinted with the text "Government of Pakistan"

in English and Urdu. Regular government issues commenced in 1948 in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 100 rupees. The government

continued to issue 1 rupee notes until the 1980s but other note issuing was taken over by the State

Bank in 1953, when 2, 5, 10 and 100 rupees notes were issued. Only a few 2 rupees notes were issued. 50 rupees notes were added in

1957, with 2 rupees notes reintroduced in 1985. In 1986, 500 rupees notes were introduced, followed

by 1000 rupees the next year. 2 and 5 rupees notes were replaced by coins in 1998 and 2002. 20 rupee notes were added in 2005, followed

by 5000 rupees in 2006.

All banknotes other than the 1 and 2 rupees

feature a portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah on the obverse along with writing in Urdu. The reverses of the

banknotes vary in design and have English text. The only Urdu text found on the reverse is the Urdu

translation of the Prophetic Hadith, "Seeking honest livelihood is worship of God."

The banknotes vary in size and

colour, with larger denominations being longer than smaller ones. All contain multiple colours. However, each denomination

does have one colour which predominates. All banknotes feature a watermark for security purposes. On the

larger denomination notes, the watermark is a picture of Jinnah, while on smaller notes, it is a crescent and star.

Different types of security threads are also present in each banknote.

Banknotes before the 2005 Series
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description - Reverse	Status
Obverse	Reverse
		Rs. 1	95 × 66 mm	Brown	Tomb of Muhammad Iqbal in Lahore	No longer in Circulation
		Rs. 2	109 × 66 mm	Purple	Badshahi Masjid in Lahore
		Rs. 5	127 × 73 mm	Burgundy	Khojak Tunnel in Balochistan
		Rs. 10	141 × 73 mm	Green	Mohenjo-daro in Larkana District	No longer printed - Still in Circulation
		Rs. 50	154 × 73 mm	Purple and Red	Alamgiri Gate of the Lahore Fort in Lahore
		Rs. 100	165 × 73 mm	Red and Orange	Islamia College in Peshawar
		Rs. 500	175 × 73 mm	Green, tan, red, and orange	The State Bank of Pakistan inIslamabad
		Rs. 1000	175 × 73 mm	Blue	Tomb of Jahangir in Lahore
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

The State Bank has started a new series of banknotes, phasing out the older designs for new, more

secure ones.

2005 Series
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description - Reverse	Date of issue
Obverse	Reverse
		Rs. 5	115 x 65 mm	Greenish Grey	Gwadar port, which is a mega project in Balochistan (Pakistan)	July 08, 2008
		Rs. 10	115 × 65 mm	Green	Bab ul Khyber which is the entrance to the Khyber Pass, Khyber Agency, FATA	May 27, 2006
		Rs. 20	123 × 65 mm	Orange Green	Mohenjo-daro in Larkana District	March 22, 2008
		Rs. 50	131 x 65 m.m.	Purple	K2, second highest mountain of the world in northern areas ofPakistan	July 08, 2008
		Rs. 100	139 × 65 mm	Red	Quaid-e-Azam Residency in Ziarat	November 11,2006
		Rs. 500	147 × 65 mm	Rich Deep Green	Badshahi Masjid in Lahore
		Rs. 1000	155 × 65 mm	Dark blue	Islamia College in Peshawar	February 26,2007
		Rs. 5000	163 × 65 mm	Mustard	Faisal Mosque in Islamabad	May 27, 2006
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

(*Recently the State Bank revised the Rs.20/- banknote, after complaints of its similarity to the

Rs.5000/-, which caused a lot of confusion and financial losses, when people gave out Rs.5000/- notes, thinking them to be Rs.20/-

notes)

Due to the large number of pilgrims to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the 1950s,

the State Bank of Pakistan provided simple exchange facilities for Hajj pilgrims. The issue of special notes for the express use of the

pilgrims was introduced. Although other means of exchangewere considered, the high level of

illiteracy amongst the pilgrims and the additional costs that would be

incurred through the need to purchase such means prevented the government from these

methods of exchange. The State Bank Order to allow the issue of these "Hajj notes" was made in May 1950.

Hajj notes

The use of Hajj notes continued until 1994. Until this date, stocks of notes were used

without the necessity of printing new notes with the signatures of the later Governors. It is believed that, once the use of Hajj Notes

was discontinued, most of the remaining stock of notes was destroyed. However, a large

quantity of notes did find their way into the collector market following their sale to a bank note dealer by the State

Bank of Pakistan.

Hajj banknotes of Pakistan
Image		Value	Main Colour	Description - Reverse	Date of usage
Obverse	Reverse
		Rs. 10	Dark purple	Shalamar Gardens in Lahore	1960 - 1969
		Rs. 10	Dark blue	Mohenjo-daro in Larkana	1970 - 1976
		Rs. 100	Dark orange	Islamia College (Peshawar)	1970 - 1976
For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Special banknote

Special banknote on 50th Independent celebrations of Pakistan
Image		Value	Main Colour	Description - Reverse	Date of usage
Obverse	Reverse
		Rs. 5	Dark purple	Baha-ud-din Zakariya Tomb Multan	1997 till now
For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

The Rupee was pegged to the US Dollar until 1982. When the government of General Zia-ul-

Haq, changed it to managed float. This has been regarded as the best decision

by Zia. As a result, the rupee devalued by 38.5% between 1982/83 and 1987/88 and the anti-export

bias in the economy was reduced.^[4] The Pakistani rupee depreciated

against the US dollar until the turn of the century, when Pakistan's large current-account surplus pushed

the value of the rupee up versus the dollar. Pakistan's central bank then stabilized by lowering interest

rates and buying dollars, in order to preserve the country's export competitiveness. The year 2008

has been termed as disastrous year for the rupee as so far (up to August 2008) it has lost 23% of

its value since December, 2007 to a record low of 79.2 against US Dollar. The

major reasons for this depreciation are ongoing political crisis,

increased current and trade accounts deficits and rising militancy in the NWFP and FATA areas.

Since the allegedly forex scam

case arrests, greenback value

is depreciating against ruppee.

Dollar fell from 87 to 0.916 in

international forex exchange and 0.9 in Pakistani Open

Market.