The first one Rupee note in India was printed by the British, in England, in 1917 with the text “I promise to pay” written on it. It was then followed by the exotic Rupees Two and Eight Annas. Even though the King George V - 1917 Issue - 1 Rupee commenced with Prefix ‘A’, there was chaos as there was no continuity to the signatories of the prefixes. The issuance of these notes was discontinued on 1st January 1926 on cost benefit considerations. These notes first carried the portrait of King George V and were the precursors of the 'King's Portrait' Series. The first 1 Rupee note was printed in England with a photo of King George V on it.
Printing of the rupee was done in India only after the Security Press and Currency Note Press was established in Nasik, Maharashtra, in 1928. After the establishment of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 1935, the rupee, including the Rs 1 note, started becoming the fiat currency of the nation.
In 1940, the Rs 1 note was re-introduced with the status of a rupee coin. The note had the image of a rupee coin with a photo of King George VI. After Independence, the currency presses were busy printing notes for both India and the newly formed Pakistan.
Once this arrangement was completed, Independent India’s first Rs 1 note was printed in 1949 with the Lion Capitol of the Ashoka Pillar. The note was signed by India’s first Finance Secretary R K Shanmukham Chetty.
While all other notes have the RBI governor’s signature, the Rs 1 note is signed by the finance secretary as a testimony that it is the base unit of the currency system and an “asset” of the government. Hence, the note does not say “I promise to pay the bearer”, unlike other notes. Basically, when the RBI governor says I promise to pay Rs 10, he essentially means he will pay 10 one-rupee coins or notes, which are assets of the sovereign.
The Rs 1 note has since seen several revisions, and after being discontinued in 1994, was reintroduced in 2015, quickly scaling up to 160 million pieces in two years.
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