Pakistani rupee

Pakistani rupee
1000-rupee note	Coins of various denominations
ISO 4217 Code	PKR
Official user(s)	Pakistan
Unofficial user(s)	Afghanistan (alongside the Afghan afghani and the U.S. dollar)
Inflation	25%
Source	Federal Bureau of Statistics, September 2008
Subunit
1/100	paisa
Symbol	Rs
Coins
Freq. used	1, 2, 5 rupees
Banknotes
Freq. used	5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 5000 rupees
Central bank	State Bank of Pakistan
Website	www.sbp.org.pk

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The rupee (sign: Rs; code: PKR) is the currency of Pakistan. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the State Bank of Pakistan, the central bank of the country. The most commonly used symbol for the rupee is Rs, used on receipts when purchasing goods and services. In Pakistan, the rupee is referred to as the "rupees", "rupaya" or "rupaye". As standard in Indian English, large values of rupees are counted in terms of thousands, 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 Rule 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 (آن), each of 4 pice (پيس) or 12 pie (پاى). The currency was decimalised on 1 January 1961, with the rupee subdivided into 100 pice, renamed (in English) paise (singular paisa) later the same year. However, coins denominated in paise have not been issued since 1994.

[edit] Coins

In 1948, coins were introduced in denominations of 1 pice, ½, 1 and 2 annas, ¼, ½ and 1 rupee. 1 pie coins were added in 1951. In 1961, coins for 1, 5 and 10 pice were issued, followed later the same year by 1 paisa, 5 and 10 paise coins. In 1963, 10 and 25 paise coins were introduced, followed by 2 paise the next year. 1 rupee coins were reintroduced in 1979, followed by 2 rupees in 1998 and 5 rupees in 2002. 2 paise coins were last minted in 1976, with 1 paisa coins ceasing production in 1979. The 5, 10, 25 and 50 paise all ceased production in 1994. There are two variations of 2 rupee coins; most have clouds above the Badshahi Masjid but many don't have. The one and two rupee coins were changed to aluminium in 2007 ^[1]

Currently Circulating Coins
Depiction (Front)	Depiction (Back)	Value	Year in Use	Composition	Front Illustration	Back Illustration
		Re. 1	1998 - Present	Bronze and Aluminium	Quaid-e-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah	Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Mausoleum, Sehwan Shareef
		Rs. 2	1998 - Present	Brass and Aluminium	Crescent and Star	Badshahi Masjid, Lahore
		Rs. 5	2002 - Present	Cupro-nickel	Crescent and Star
For table standards, see the coin specification table.

[edit] Special banknote

Special banknote on 50^th Independent celebrations of Pakistan
Image		Value	Main Colour	Description - Reverse	Date of usage
Obverse	Reverse	Value	Main Colour	Description - Reverse	Date of usage
		Rs. 5	Dark purple	Baha-ud-din Zakariya Tomb Multan	1997 till now
For table standards, see the banknote specification table.