RBI Money Museum

RBI Museum at Kolkata

The RBI Museum of Kolkata showcases the evolution of money through interactive games and presentations. This currency museum was inaugurated on 12-Dec-2023 and it is the second of its kind in India, after Mumbai. The Museum will immerse you in a one-of-a-kind experience that explains the money, its role in the economy and your role in it, in a fun and interactive way.

Location of RBI Money Museum, Kolkata

This Museum is located at Council House Street in BBD Bag.

Collection of RBI Money Museum

Inside the museum you can find out how money has evolved – Barter to Digital currency, why Gold is an all-time favourite investment avenue and what is the Reserve Bank and what it does. You can pick up gold bar and learn about banking and good banking practices through interactive presentations.

You can also explore how money has evolved over the centuries, how and about the genesis of RBI. The Museum also features an interactive exhibit on gold mining, a 12-feet high sculpture made from soiled note pulp, various machines used in manufacturing and stitching notes and a bird’s eye view of the eventful eight decades of Reserve Bank of India. You can also see numerous coins of different eras, various commodities that were used as money like the 07-feet wide ‘Yap’ stone, whale’s tooth, cigarettes, salt etc.

History of RBI Money Museum, Kolkata

The Reserve Bank of India was formed in 1935 at this very building in Council House Street under its Governor Sir Osborne Smith. In fact, it was in this building that the first Annual General Meeting of the shareholders of the Reserve Bank was held in 1936.

In 1935, the Reserve Bank had taken this building on lease from the Allaince Bank of Simla. Later in 1943, when the Alliance Bank went into liquidation, the Reserve Bank bought it over from its liquidators.

This building was constructed by Sir Rajen Mookerjee’s firm M/S Martin & Burn Company. Sir Rajen was a very renowned engineer of the time and had built many iconic buildings in the city such as the Victoria Memorial Hall and the Ochterlony Monument (now known as Shaheed Minar).

As the Reserve Bank of India’s functions evolved, this building was found to be too small to house all the departments so another building was built nearby which stands today as Reserve Bank’s Kolkata Regional Office.

Trivia on RBI Museum at Kolkata

You would find 12-feet high installations and sculptures made of coins and soiled-note pulps. You can also buy mementos made from soiled-note pulps from the museum’s souvenir shop.
At the museum’s Gold Vault room, you can try lifting a gold bar weighing 12.5 kg.
You can also take a Certificate of Visit from the museum at the PDO Press that actually printed the Government of India Bonds.
In one of the displays, you would find One Crore Rupees in 10-rupee notes stacked in a pile.
You would find the original Yaksha and Yakshi made in plaster by the famous sculptor Ramkinkar Baij on display here. These sculptures were later replicated in stone and placed in front of the gates of the RBI Regional offices throughout India.
You can also design your own note with your photo on it and take a printout of it too.