1000 Rupees

The Government of India 1000 Rupees note of 1937 sits at the upper end of a denomination structure that made it essentially a banker's instrument — not something that passed through ordinary commerce. At that value, equivalent to several years' wages for most Indians, retail circulation was never really the point.

P#3A was issued under the Currency Ordinance framework that kept note issuance with the Government of India rather than the Reserve Bank, which had only been established in 1935. The transition of note-issuing authority to the RBI was still being phased in, and high-denomination government notes continued in parallel for a period. Few survived demonetization or wartime withdrawal measures.