500 Rupees No Date, Yellow

The yellow intaglio shift that gives this note its collector nickname was an unintended consequence of RBI's mid-series color adjustment, introduced to improve machine-readability and distinguish the 500 from lower denominations in automated sorting. Bimal Jalan's tenure as Governor ran from 1997 to 2003, placing the earliest signature varieties firmly within India's post-1991 liberalization period, when currency volumes were expanding rapidly and the 500-rupee note was taking on real transactional weight for the first time.

Y.V. Reddy succeeded Jalan in September 2003. Notes bearing his signature with plate letters overlap the yellow and subsequent issues, making precise dating of individual specimens genuinely difficult without cross-referencing serial prefix data.