<P> The first "Mahatma Gandhi Series" was introduced in 1996 . Prominent new features included a changed watermark, windowed security thread, latent image and intaglio features for the visually handicapped . </P> <P> The five hundred (₹ 500) and one thousand rupee notes (₹ 1,000) were demonetised by an unscheduled address to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi starting from midnight 8 November 2016 . These notes are being replaced by the Mahatma Gandhi New Series of notes . </P> <P> For the record, the rupee was never equal to the dollar . At the time of independence (in 1947), India's currency was pegged to pound sterling, and the exchange rate was a shilling and six pence for a rupee--which worked out to Rs 13.33 to the pound . The dollar - pound exchange rate then was $4.03 to the pound, which in effect gave a rupee - dollar rate in 1947 of around Rs 3.30 . The pound was devalued in 1949, changing its dollar parity from 4.03 to 2.80 . India was then a part of the sterling area, and the rupee was devalued on the same day by the same percentage, so that the new dollar exchange rate in 1949 became Rs 4.76--which is where it stayed till the rupee devaluation of 1966 made it Rs 7.50 to the dollar and the pound moved to Rs 21 . </P> <Ul> <Li> Jammu and Kashmir issues: Maharaja Rambir Singh introduced paper money on watermarked paper in 1877 . The notes were not very popular and were in circulation for a very short period . The notes carried the' Sun' motif of the Dogra family . </Li> </Ul>

When was the paper currency introduced in india