Rezwan Razack's Museum of Indian Paper Money

A museum founded as a result of a hobby of collecting old paper money, Rezwan Razack’s Museum of Indian Paper Money houses a rich collection of Indian currency from decades ago. Co-Founder and Joint MD of the Prestige Group, Rezwan Razack had collected years’ worth of Indian paper currency which he then decided to showcase in a museum set up.

About the Museum

Located in Bangalore, Karnataka, Rezwan Razack’s Museum of Indian Paper Money is the first paper currency museum of South India and is owned by Rezwan Razack, the co-founder and MD of Prestige Group, the world’s biggest collector of Indian paper currency. The museum is located in the Prestige Falcon Towers on the 2nd floor and houses Indian paper currency from the pre-colonial era to recent times.

The museum has over 700 paper currency notes gathered by Rezwan Razack over a time period of 20 years. A visit to this museum is like glimpsing the history of India through its impressive and diverse collection of currency. Many of the notes date back to the 1800s and some are even uniface or one-sided. The rich collection of notes in the museum includes notes from the British era, French India, Portuguese India, the Princely States of Hyderabad, Jammu, and Kashmir, and Saurashtra. The exhibit also has Prisoners of War Coupons to Indian notes that were issued in the 19th century and some unique notes from India that were also used by Pakistan and Burma during the early days of the Partition.

The inauguration of the museum in 2020 consisted of a panel discussion by Rezwan Razack and Dr. C. Rangarajan, the former Governor of RBI. The museum attempts to leave behind traces of Indian heritage that display the rich past of India and its journey via its currency. Quoting the words of Rezwan Razack during the inauguration, ‘’The story of money is woven into our very being, uniting us, dividing us, giving us a sense of identity and indeed mapping people or the nation’s powers, progress, crises, and triumphs.’’ According to him, the museum is an attempt to comprehensively restore and preserve a very significant national heritage for future generations. Anyone who is eager to get a glimpse of Indian history through something as prevailing and perceptive as the currency, will no doubt be rewarded with the visual and panoramic treat to satiate their interested minds.