500 Rupees

P#42 spans two decades and at least four distinct signature combinations, reflecting the turnover of State Bank governors across a period of considerable political instability — military rule under Zia ul-Haq, the civilian governments of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, and then Musharraf's coup of 1999. Collectors assembling a complete signature run need a minimum of six variants to close the set.

Printed domestically by the Pakistan Security Printing Corporation rather than contracted abroad, which was not always the case for earlier high-denomination Pakistani issues. The watermark remains the sole security feature by modern standards — a notable vulnerability for a note that stayed in production into the early 2000s.