Monetary Museum, Mumbai

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Museum was inaugurated by former President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam in 2005 to all doubts pertaining to currency and related topics. The museum is housed in the Amar building on Phirozeshah Mehta Road in Mumbai, and brings to the front the great history of Indian numismatics through the collection of coins dating back as far as 600BC. The exhibits are highly informative and interactive kiosks make learning interesting even for children.

The museum is divided into 5 sections:

Section 1 provides information regarding evolution and definition of money. It also displays the commodities used in the Barter system like Neolithic stones, silver bar money, beads, etc. Also information on the types of metals and alloys used in making coins, early nomenclature (anna, pie, pice, suvarna, etc) and forms of money are displayed here.

Section 2: The coins dating from early 6th century B.C. to mid-20th century are displayed here. The coins of Satvahana, Indo-Greeks, Pandyas, Delhi Sultanate, Bahami, etc. can be found in this exhibit.

Section 3: This section deals with the evolution of paper money which started in the 18th century but gained prominence in the 19th century. On display are cheques, promissory notes, hundies and early bank notes along with hand-made paper British India notes of denominations 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000.

Section 4: This sections gives information about currency management in India and also helps in identifying fake notes. The contemporary Mahatma Gandhi Series of notes are kept on display.

Section 5: Information about the Reserve Bank of India, from the functions of the central bank to the governers of RBI right from Sir Osborne A Smith to Y V Reddy.