The Gandhi Series of banknotes are issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the legal tender of Indian rupee. The series is so called because the obverse of the banknotes prominently display the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. Since its introduction in 1996, this series replaced all Lion Capital Series banknotes issued before 1996. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced the series in 1996 with ₹10 and ₹500 banknotes.
As of 10 November 2016, the RBI issues banknotes in this series in denominations from ₹5 to ₹100. Printing of five-notes, which had stopped earlier, restarted in 2009. On 8 November 2016, the ₹500 and ₹1000 banknote denominations of this series were demonetised and the new Mahatma Gandhi Series of banknotes were revealed in denominations of ₹500 and ₹2000, intended to replace this series.