The origin of the word rupee lies in the Sanskrit word rupa or rupiah, which means silver and rupyakam means silver coin

The word rupee was first used by Sher Shah Suri during his rule in India during 1560–1585. The rupee that Sher Shah Suri ran during his reign was a silver coin weighing about 14 grains (11.534 grams). He also introduced a copper coin called a price and a gold coin called a mohar.

Later, during the Mughal rule, the coins of the three metals were standardized to strengthen the monetary system throughout the subcontinent.

The 'rupee', which was started during the reign of Sher Shah Suri, is in circulation till date. It remained in circulation even during the British Raj in India, during this time its weight was 11.9 grams and 91.6 percent of its weight was pure silver. At the end of the 19th century the rupee was equivalent to one shilling and four pence according to the customary British currency exchange rate, while it was 1/15 of a pound sterling.

In the 19th century, when the most powerful economies in the world were based on the gold standard, the value of the silver rupee declined drastically. As a result of the huge amount of silver sources found in the United States and various European colonies, the value of silver fell much more than gold. Suddenly, India's standard currency could no longer be bought from outside world. This phenomenon is known as 'rupee depreciation'.

Earlier, the rupee (11.6 grams) was distributed in 14 pennies or 4 paise or 192 pies. The demonetisation of the rupee took place in India in 1958, in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1898, and in Pakistan in 1961. Thus the Indian rupee was divided into 100 paise. Money in India was earlier known as Naya Paisa. In India, currency is issued by the Reserve Bank of India, while in Pakistan it is controlled by the State Bank of Pakistan.

An official emblem for Indian currency has been selected on July 15, 2010, designed by Professor D. Udaya Kumar of IIT, Guwahati. After the US dollar, the British pound, the Japanese yen and the European Union's euro, the rupee has become the fifth currency to be recognized by its emblem. A national competition was organized for this. Under this, the government received more than three thousand applications. A high-powered committee constituted under the chairmanship of the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank had recommended the final selection of this symbol of Indian culture and Indian languages ​​as well as the modern era. It has been applied for inclusion in the Unicode standard. This sign will be ranked at U + 20A8 in the Unicode, which is already allocated for a sign that looks like Rs. At present, some non-Unicode fonts have been made to print this symbol on computer.