RBI to issue new Rs 20 bank notes

The Reserve Bank of India has announced that it will shortly issue Rs 20 denomination banknotes, in the Mahatma Gandhi series, bearing the signature of the central bank's governor Shaktikanta Das.

"The Rs 20 note will be greenish-yellow in colour. The new banknote has a motif of the Ellora Caves on the reverse, depicting the country's cultural heritage," a statement by the RBI said.

All the bank notes in the denomination of Rs 20 issued by the RBI in the earlier series will continue to be legal tender, it clarified.

The note has other designs, geometric patterns aligning with the overall colour scheme, both at the obverse and reverse. The dimension of the new Rs 20 note will be 63 mm x 129 mm, the statement said.

The obverse (front) side of the note contains a see-through register with denominational numeral 100, a latent image with the numeral and also a Devanagari version of the same.

It also contains a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at the centre, with micro letters 'RBI', 'Bharat', 'India' and '20', along with a guarantee clause, the Governor's signature with Promise Clause and RBI emblem towards the right of Gandhi's portrait.

On the right side of the portrait are the Ashoka Pillar emblem and electrotype (20) watermarks.