5 Rupees

India's prewar 5 Rupee notes were issued under the Reserve Bank of India, established only in 1935, and this series spans the entirety of the Second World War's impact on the subcontinent — a period of severe inflationary pressure driven by military expenditure and the forced financing of British war operations through the rupee. The Burma campaign and Japanese advances into the Bay of Bengal region prompted genuine contingency planning around currency, including preparation of denial schemes to prevent large-denomination notes from falling into enemy hands.

Two governor signatures appear across the series: J.B. Taylor, who served until 1943, and C.D. Deshmukh, the first Indian governor of the RBI. Notes signed by Deshmukh are the more collected of the two.