The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced the launch of the Rs.200 note today.

The actual image of the note released by RBI is dramatically different from the one circulating in previous press reports. While the earlier image showed the Rs.200 note having purple and blue hues (see image below), the actual note released today is bright yellow with orange hues! It goes to show how effectively RBI was able to keep this under wraps and how you have to be careful about what you read.

In the initial days, when familiarity with the new Rs.200 note will be low, mischievous elements will try to produce fake notes to hoodwink the people. While these fake notes will be poor copies of the original, some people will still be fooled as they may not know what to look out for. We had seen the exact same thing happen when the new Rs.2000 and Rs.500 notes were launched in November 2016.

To help you differentiate between a real note and a fake one, we have picked out the 7 security features that matter. While RBI has listed 18 features of the new Rs.200 note in its press release, we should differentiate between what are essentially design features which are easy to copy, and security features which are very difficult to copy.

7 security features of new Rs. 200 note

If you just focus on these 7 security features and make sure that you are able to pick them out, you should be fine. So here they are:

1. See through register:

Hold your note against the light and look at the highlighted section. You should see the number ‘200’.

2. Latent image:

Hold the note horizontally at eye level and tilt the note back and forth. You should see the image of ₹200 appear and disappear in the box shown.

3. Micro letters:

Zoom into the area shown in the note. You should see ‘RBI’, ‘भारत’, ‘India’ and ‘200’ written repeatedly in very small and sharp lettering.

4. Security thread:

Zoom into the security thread. You should see inscriptions ‘भारत’ and RBI with colour shift. Colour of the thread changes from green to blue when the note is tilted.

5. Colour shifting ink:

The ₹ 200 numeral on the bottom right of the note as shown should change colour from green to blue when you tilt the note back and forth.

6. Watermark:

Hold the note against the light. In the section shown, you should see Mahatma Gandhi portrait and ‘200’ numeral as a watermark.

7. Raised printing:

If you lightly run your fingertip on the Mahatma Gandhi portrait or the Ashoka Pillar emblem or the four angular lines with two circles in between the lines on the left and right edges of the note, you will find them rough to touch. We have developed the Chkfake app (available on Google Play Store as well as Apple App Store) which helps you learn how to check for a fake currency note, anytime anywhere. It already has all the Indian currency notes released so far, as well as all the major currency notes of the world, such as US Dollar, UK Pound, Singapore Dollar, Japanese Yen and Euro notes. As soon as the Rs.200 note will be released in the market, you can check for that as well.

In the meantime, we hope that you will find the above guide useful. It is exciting to get another new denomination of the Indian Rupee note so soon after the Rs.2000 note was launched. Enjoy using the new Rs.200 note from August 25th 2017.

Tanmay Jaswal

Director – Chkfake

Chkfake is the world’s best app to help you learn how to tell the genuine currency not note. Covering all major currencies of the world, it can be downloaded here.