100 Gems - September birthstone sapphire

Part of the Reserve Bank of India's "100 Gems" collector series, this note belongs to a limited commemorative program celebrating India's gemstone heritage. Sapphire is the traditional birthstone for September, historically associated with the Kashmir region, whose deep-blue "cornflower" sapphires commanded the highest prices on world markets before the mines were largely exhausted by the early twentieth century. India's connection to sapphire is old and well-documented — Mughal imperial records reference significant sapphire holdings in the treasury at Agra.

Polymer substrate for commemorative Indian notes reflects a broader RBI shift toward test issues on non-paper stock, a material still uncommon in mainstream Indian circulation.