India announces Rs 20 coin for first time

ALMOST 10 years after the issue of the Rs 10 coin, the Indian government today (7) announced a new coin in the denomination of Rs 20 for the first time.

The coin will be shaped like a 12-edged polygon with a design of grains to denote farm dominance in the country.

A new series of one, two, five, and ten rupee coins too will also be minted, which will be circular in design and have denominations written in the Devnagri script.

"These coins contain design features which will be of great assistance to visually impaired persons," the country’s finance minister, Arun Jaitley, tweeted.

The date of issuance of the new series of coins is yet to be announced.

The Rs 20 coin will weigh 8.54 grams and its outside diameter will be 27 millimetres with the outer ring made of nickel silver and the centre piece of nickel brass, a finance ministry notification said.

The face of the new Rs 20 coin shall bear the 'Lion Capitol of Ashoka Pillar' with 'Satyameva Jayate' (Truth alone triumphs) inscribed below.

The left periphery of the new coin will have the word 'Bharat' (India) in Hindi and the right periphery will have the word 'India' in English whereas the reverse side will showcase the denominational value '20' in the international numerals along with the rupee symbol.

The year of minting in international numerals shall be shown on centre of left periphery of the coin.