The Indian paisa (plural: paise) is a (one-hundredth) subdivision of the Indian rupee. The paisa was first introduced on 1 April 1957 after decimalisation of the Indian rupee.[1]
In 1955, the Government of India first amended the Indian Coinage Act and adopted the "metric system for coinage". From 1957 to 1964, the paisa was called naya paisa to distinguish it from the old paisa/pice which was a subdivision of the Indian Rupee. On 1 June 1964, the term "naya" was dropped and the denomination was named paisa. Paisa has been issued in 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 25, and 50 paise coins. Though as of 2023, coins of the denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use.
See main article: Coins of the Indian rupee.
Prior to 1957, Indian rupee was not decimalised and the rupee from 1835 to 1957 was further divided into 16 annas. Each anna was further divided to four Indian pices and each pice into three Indian pies till 1947 when the pie was demonetised.[2] [3]
| Denomination | Corresponding value | From | To | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1835 | 1947 | ||||
| 1947 | 1950 | The Frozen Series | |||
| 1950 | 1957 | The Anna Series | |||
| Hundred paise | 1957 | 1964 | Naya paisa series | ||
| 1964 | Present | Except 50 paise, rest all paise, anna, pice and pies coins demonetised. | |||
| One Indian anna | 1835 | 1947 | |||
| 1947 | 1950 | The Frozen Series. | |||
| 1950 | 1957 | The Anna Series. Anna and pice demonetised in 1957. | |||
| One Indian pice | Three Indian pies | 1835 | 1947 | Pies demonetised in 1947. | |
| One Indian rupee = 100 paise = 16 anna = 64 pice = 192 pies. | |||||
| Naya paisa series | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | Technical parameters | Description | Year of minting | Monetary status | |||||||
| Weight | Diameter | Thickness | Metal | Edge | Obverse | Reverse | First | Last | |||
| 1 naya paisa | 1.5 g | 16 mm | 1 mm | Bronze | Plain | State Emblem of India and country name in Hindi and English. | Face-value and year. | 1957 | 1962 | Demonetised.[4] | |
| 2 naya Paise | 2.95 g | 18 mm | 1.80 mm | Smooth | 1957 | 1963 | Demonetised.[5] | ||||
| 5 naya paise | |||||||||||
| 10 naya paise | |||||||||||
| 20 naya paise | |||||||||||
| 50 naya paise | |||||||||||
| PaisaAluminum series | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | Technical parameters | Description | Year of minting | Monetary status | ||||||
| Mass | Diameter | Thickness | Metal | Edge | Obverse | Reverse | First | Last | ||
| 1 paisa | 0.75 g | 17 mm | 1.72 mm | Aluminium | Smooth | State Emblem of India and country name in Hindi and English. | Face-value and year. | 1965 | 1981 | Demonetised.[6] |
| 2 paise | 1.0 g | 20 mm | 1.58 mm | Demonetised.[7] | ||||||
| 3 paise | 1.2 g | 21 mm | 2.0 mm | 1964 | 1971 | Demonetised.[8] | ||||
| 5 paise | 1.5 g | 22.0 mm | 2.17 mm | State Emblem of India country name and face-value. | Year and "Save for development" lettering. Coin minted to commemorate FAO. | 1977 | 1977 | Demonetised.[9] | ||
| 10 paise | 2.27 g | 25.91 mm | 1.92 mm | State Emblem of India and country name in Hindi and English. | Face-value and year. | 1971 | 1982 | Demonetised.[10] | ||
| 20 paise | 2.2 g | 26 mm | 1.7 mm | 1982 | 1997 | Demonetised.[11] | ||||
| 25 paise | 2.83 g | 19.05 mm | 1.55 mm | 1957 | 2002 | Demonetised.[12] | ||||
| 50 paise | 2.9 g | 19 mm | 1.5 mm | 1957 | 2002 | In circulation but rare.[13] | ||||
A symbol for the paisa ⟨⟩ was designed using the same concept as the symbol for rupee.[14] However, the proposed symbol never appeared on any coin, as the Reserve Bank of India had stopped minting any paisa coins before this proposal.