The
Government of India has the sole right to mint coins. The responsibility for
coinage vests with the Government of India in terms of the Coinage Act, 1906 as
amended from time to time. The designing and minting of coins in various
denominations is also the responsibility of the Government of India. Coins are
minted at the four India Government Mints at Mumbai, Alipore(Kolkata),
Saifabad(Hyderabad), Cherlapally (Hyderabad) and NOIDA (UP).
The
coins are issued for circulation only through the Reserve Bank in terms of the
RBI Act.
Denominations:
Coins in
India are presently being issued in denominations of 10 paise, 20 paise, 25
paise, 50 paise, one rupee, two rupees and five rupees. Coins upto 50 paise are
called 'small coins' and coins of Rupee one and above are called 'Rupee Coins'.
Coins can be issued up to the denomination of Rs.1000 as per the Coinage Act,
1906.
Distribution:
Coins
are received from the Mints and issued into circulation through its Regional
Issue offices/sub-offices of the Reserve Bank and a wide network of currency
chests and coin depots maintained by banks and Government treasuries spread
across the country. The RBI Issue Offices/sub-offices are located at Ahmedabad,
Bangalore, Belapur (Navi Mumbai), Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai,
Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jammu, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur,
New Delhi, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram. These offices issue coins to the
public directly through their counters and also send coin remittances to the
currency chests and small coin depots. There are 4422 currency chest branches
and 3784 small coin depots spread throughout the country. The currency chests
and small coin depots distribute coins to the public, customers and other bank
branches in their area of operation. The members of the public can approach the
RBI offices or the above agencies for requirement of coins.
