People are queuing up at banks across the country to exchange their demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes .

While the move disrupted the daily lives of hundreds of millions of Indians, economists and some businesses have welcomed it as a vital step towards broadening the formal economy and improving tax compliance.

People are trying to swap their old notes for smaller bills and for new 500 and 2,000 rupee notes, which are being rushed into circulation and are designed to be harder to forge.

The Rs 2,000 notes, which are being introduced for the first time, will be of magenta colour with Mangalyaan imprinted on the reverse side. The higher value currency notes will have other designs, geometric patterns aligning with the overall colour scheme both on the obverse and reverse.

The new denomination has motif of the Mangalayan on the reverse, depicting the country’s first venture in interplanetary space.

The Rs 500 banknotes will be stone grey in colour with a predominant new theme of the Indian heritage site Red Fort.

Here’s a look at the distinguishing features of the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes that banks have started dispensing.

1 See through register with denominational numeral
2 Latent image with denominational numeral
3 Denominational numeral in Devnagari
4 Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi at the centre
5 Micro letters ‘RBI’ and Rs ‘2000’ on the left side of the banknote
6 Windowed security thread with inscriptions ‘Bharat’ in Devanagari, RBI and numeral with colour shift. Colour of the thread changes from green to blue when the note is tilted
7 Guarantee Clause, Governor’s signature with Promise Clause and RBI emblem towards the right
8 Mahatma Gandhi portrait and electrotype watermarks
9 Number panel with numerals growing from small to big on the top left side and bottom right side
10 Denominational numeral with rupee symbol, the numeral in colour changing ink (green to blue) on bottom right
11 Ashoka Pillar emblem on the right
12 Horizontal rectangle with Rs 2000 in raised print on the right
13 Seven angular bleed lines on the left and right side in raised print
14 Year of printing of the note on the left
15 Swachh Bharat logo with slogan
16 Language panel towards the centre
17 Motif of Mangalyaan
18 Denomination numeral in Devnagari on right
19 Circle with Rs 500 in raised print on the right
20 Five angular bleed lines on left and right side in raised print
21 Red Fort: an image of the Indian heritage site with Indian flag

BASE COLOUR OF THE RS 2000 NOTE IS MAGENTA, SIZE: 66MM x 166MM

BASE COLOUR OF THE RS 500 NOTE IS STONE GREY, SIZE: 63MM x 150MM

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