5 Rupees

Pick 54 spans a politically and economically turbulent stretch for India — the aftermath of the 1962 Sino-Indian War, the 1965 war with Pakistan, and severe foreign exchange pressure that led the government to devalue the rupee by 36.5% in June 1966. The 5 rupee denomination was among the most actively circulated notes through all of it, which means genuinely uncirculated examples from the Bhattacharya signature period are harder to locate than the catalog abundance suggests.

L. K. Jha's signature tenure began in 1967, coinciding with post-devaluation austerity and IMF negotiations. Two governors, one design, very different monetary climates.