Pakistani rupee

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The Pakistani rupee (PKR) is the official currency of Pakistan. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the State Bank of Pakistan. The most commonly used symbol for the rupee is Rs, it is used in receipts when purchasing goods and services. Under the ISO 4217 code for the Pakistani rupee the code is PKR. In Pakistan, the Pakistani rupee is referred to as the "rupees", "rupaya" or "rupaye".

Contents 1 Overview 2 History 3 Coins 4 Banknotes 4.1 2005 Series 5 Hajj banknotes 6 Exchange rate 7 External links

[edit] Overview

The Pakistani rupee is no longer subdivided into 100 paisa (singular paisa), because State Bank has stopped minting it. Pakistani rupees starts from 1 rupee and goes up to 5000 rupees. As standard in Indian English, large values of Pakistani rupees as the system is the same are counted in terms of thousand, lakh (100 thousand, in digits 1,00,000), and crore (10 million, in digits 1,00,00,000).

[edit] History

Main article: History of the rupee

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 the British Raj 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, each of 4 pice or 12 pies. The currency was decimalized in 1961, with the rupee subdivided into 100 paise (singular paisa). However as paisa was becoming unpopular, the state bank took a decision to no longer mint them and start the currency from PKR 1 rupee, hence, ridding of the decimal point.

[edit] Coins

• 1 anna (no longer minted)
• 1 paisa (no longer minted)
• 5 paise (no longer minted)
• 10 paise (no longer minted)
• 25 paise (no longer minted)
• 50 paise (no longer minted)
• 1 rupee
• 2 rupees
• 5 rupees

Currently Circulating Coins
Depiction (Front)	Depiction (Back)	Value	Year in Use	Dominant Color(s)	Front Illustration	Back Illustration
		Re. 1 (Old Version)	1948 - Present	Silver/Grey	Cresent and Star	Floral Wreath
		Re. 1 (New Version)	1998 - Present	Dark Brown	Quaid-e-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah	Badshahi Masjid in Lahore
		Rs. 2	1998 - Present	Light Brown	Cresent and Star	Badshahi Masjid in Lahore
		Rs. 5	2002 - Present	Silver/Grey	Cresent and Star
For table standards, see the coin specification table.

[edit] Banknotes

The State Bank of Pakistan is responsible for printing all rupee banknotes (except for Re. 1 note which was printed by the Government of Pakistan before it was discontinued). All banknotes other than the one and two rupee ones feature a portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah on the front along with writing in Urdu. The backsides of banknotes vary in what image they display, and contain information in English. The only Urdu text found on the backsides of banknotes contain the legend "Earning legal livelihood is akin to prayer".

The banknotes vary in width and color, with larger denominations being longer than smaller ones, and all containing multiple colors. However, each rupee does have one color that is predominant on it. 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 [1]
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description - Reverse	Status
Obverse	Reverse
		Re. 1	95 × 66 mm	Brown	Tomb of Allama 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	No longer printed - Still in Circulation
		Rs. 50	154 × 73 mm	Purple and Red	Alamgiri Gate of the Lahore Fort in Lahore	In Circulation
		Rs. 100	165 × 73 mm	Red and Orange	Islamia College in Peshawar	No longer printed - Still in Circulation
		Rs. 500	175 × 73 mm	Green, tan, red, and orange	The State Bank of Pakistan in Islamabad
		Rs. 1000	175 × 73 mm	Blue	Tomb of Jahangir in Lahore	In Circulation
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

[edit] 2005 Series

2005 Series [2]
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description - Reverse	Date of issue
Obverse	Reverse
		Rs. 10	115 × 65 mm	Green	Khyber Pass in Peshawar	May 26, 2006
		Rs. 20	123 × 65 mm	Brown	Mohenjo-daro in Larkana	August 13, 2005
		Rs. 50	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
		Rs. 100	139 × 65 mm	Red	Quaid-e-Azam Residency, Ziarat-Quetta in Quetta	November 10, 2006
		Rs. 500	147 × 65 mm	Rich Deep Green	Badshahi Mosque in Lahore
		Rs. 1000	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
		Rs. 5000	163 × 65 mm	Mustard	Faisal Mosque in Islamabad	May 26, 2006
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre, a standard for world banknotes. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

[edit] Hajj banknotes

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 exchange were thought, 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 special notes, or ‘Hajj notes’, was made in May 1950.

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, once the use of Hajj Notes was discontinued, that 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 - 19??
		Rs. 100	Dark orange	Islamia College in Peshawar	1970 - 19??
For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

[edit] Exchange rate

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.

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[edit] External links

• Business Recorder: Pakistan's first financial newspaper
• Banknotes of Pakistan
• Gallery of current and historical Pakistani banknotes
• State Bank to issue Rs.5000/- and New Rs.10/- Banknotes from 27th May, 2006: Governor
• The Haj Notes of Pakistan
• Don's World Coin Gallery on Pakistan

Rupees
Current	Indian rupee | Indonesian rupiah | Maldivian rufiyaa | Mauritian rupee | Nepalese rupee | Pakistani rupee | Seychellois rupee | Sri Lankan rupee
Defunct	Afghan rupee | Bhutanese rupee | Burmese rupee | Danish Indian rupee | (British) East African rupee | French Indian rupee | German East African rupie | Gulf rupee | Hyderabad rupee | Italian Somaliland rupia | Netherlands Indian roepiah | Portuguese Indian rupia | Riau rupiah | Travancore rupee | West New Guinean rupiah | Zanzibari rupee
Fictional	Hyrulean rupee
See also	History of the rupee
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Currencies of Asia and the Pacific
Central	Afghan afghani | Kazakhstani tenge | Kyrgyzstani som | Mongolian tugrug | Russian ruble | Tajikistani somoni | Turkmenistani manat | Uzbekistani som
East	Chinese yuan | Hong Kong dollar | Japanese yen | Macanese pataca | North Korean won | South Korean won | New Taiwan dollar
South-East	Brunei dollar | Cambodian riel | Indonesian rupiah | Lao kip | Malaysian ringgit | Myanmar kyat | Philippine peso | Singapore dollar | Thai baht | US dollar (East Timor) | Vietnamese đồng
South	Bangladeshi taka | Bhutanese ngultrum | Indian rupee | Maldivian rufiyaa | Nepalese rupee | Pakistani rupee | Sri Lankan rupee
West	Armenian dram | Azerbaijani manat | Bahraini dinar | Cypriot pound | Egyptian pound | Georgian lari | Iranian rial | Iraqi dinar | Israeli new sheqel | Jordanian dinar | Kuwaiti dinar | Lebanese lira | Omani rial | Qatari riyal | Saudi riyal | Syrian pound | Turkish new lira | UAE dirham | Yemeni rial
Pacific	Australian dollar (Kiribati, Nauru, Norfolk Island, Tuvalu) | CFP franc (French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna) | Cook Islands dollar | Fijian dollar | New Zealand dollar (Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, Pitcairn Islands) | Papua New Guinean kina | Samoan tala | Solomon Islands dollar | Tongan pa'anga | US dollar (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau) | Vanuatu vatu
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