Mint Marks on Republic India Coins
There are 4 mints in India. Kolkata and Mumbai were the earliest of the mints established in India. Hyderabad was the third mint, which was followed by Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
- Kolkata mint was the first mint established in India in year 1757. Since it was the first mint of India, there is no mint mark on coins minted in Kolkata mint. The space below the year is empty for these coins.
- Mumbai Mint is the second oldest mints of India. The Mumbai Mint was established in year 1829. In the year 2006, Government of India took a decision to corporatize all the mints & presses under the banner named Security Printing & Minting Corporation of India Ltd.
- In 1948, the State of Hyderabad came under the control of Government of India. Administratively, Hyderabad Mint was under control of Bombay Mint from 1948 to 1962 until Shri B.S. Ayer took charge of Hyderabad Mint as Master of Mint.
- Noida Mint was the most recent mint established in India in 1984. Noida comes under Uttar Pradesh but falls under National Capital Region (NCR) that encompasses Delhi and its neighboring towns.
The mint marks represent where the coins were minted or produced. The mint mark is usually located just beneath the year.
In some years of 1980s and 1990s, there was an acute shortage of regular coins in India. Indian mints were unable to mint enough coins as required. In this period, the Indian government sought help from mints of foreign countries and minted and imported regular coins from foreign mints across the world to overcome the shortage of coins.
Mint marks of coins minted in foreign mints:
There are 19 coins minted outside India. No commemorative coin has been minted outside India.
