5 Rupees

Pick 80 covers a long span of issues — over three decades — during which the 5 Rupee note underwent several signature varieties as successive RBI governors came and went. The note belongs to the "Lion Capital" series, introduced to replace the earlier George VI-era currency after the Republic was established. By the 1990s, the 5 Rupee denomination was already being squeezed out of practical use by inflation, and the RBI eventually transitioned the value to a coin series, making the final paper issues of this type short-circulated almost by default.

The single watermark as the sole security feature reflects how little anti-counterfeiting investment went into low-denomination notes of this period.