State-owned enterprise
The
India Government Mint
(
ISO
:
Bh?rata Sarak?ra ?akas?la
) operated four
mints
in the country for the production of coins:
The functions of the mint were replaced by the
Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India
in 2006.
History
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Under The Coinage Act, 1906, the
Government of India
is charged with the production and supply of coins to the
Reserve Bank of India
(RBI). The RBI places an annual indent for this purpose and the Government of India draws up the production programme for the India Government Mints on the basis of the indent.
Besides minting coins, the mints at
Mumbai
,
Kolkata
and
Hyderabad
also make
coin blanks
. Hyderabad, Mumbai and Kolkata mints have gold
assaying
facilities and the Mumbai mint produces standardized weights and measures. Mumbai Mint has a state-of-the-art gold refining facility up to 999.9. Hyderabad Mint has electrolytic silver refining facility up to 999.9.
Commemorative coins
are made at Mumbai and Kolkata. Kolkata and Hyderabad have facilities for making
medallions
, too. The Noida mint was the first in the country to mint coins of stainless steel.
Marks on mint
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Each currency coin minted in India (and anywhere in the world) has a special mint mark on it to identify the mint.
Bombay (Mumbai) Mint
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Bombay (Mumbai) Mint has a diamond under the date of the coin (year of issue). The proof coins from this mint have a mint mark 'B or 'M'.
Calcutta (Kolkata) Mint
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Calcutta mint has no mark under the date of the coin (year of issue). Or it has a 'C' mark. It was unique because it had not chosen any mark because this mint is the first mint in India.
Made by grand architect Mulk Raj Malhotra.
Hyderabad Mint
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Hyderabad Mint has a star under the date of the coin (year of issue). The other mint marks from Hyderabad include a split diamond and a dot in the diamond.
Noida Mint
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Noida mint has a dot under the year of issue (coin date).
The most important thing about this Noida Mint factory is that it was first started by the Indian finance ministry.
Noida mint factory was established on 1 July 1988.
See also
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References
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