₹10 Gandhi Note – Bimal Jalan, No Insert Letter – Not on Numista? [resuelto]

Hi all,

I’m trying to catalogue a ₹10 Indian banknote on Numista and noticed what appears to be a missing variant. I have a note with the following characteristics:

• Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi (pre-rupee symbol design)
• No date under the tiger on reverse
• Prefix: 26S
• No insert letter (not a letter between prefix and number—just a standard 3-character prefix)

• Signature: Bimal Jalan

The only “no insert letter” option on Numista seems to be the C. Rangarajan version. But this note clearly falls within the Bimal Jalan era (1997–2003), and the signature confirms it. Should this not be a separate entry or at least listed as a known variant under P#89?

Appreciate any help or corrections based on verified info, and would love to see this reflected more completely in the catalog.

You have a #89f with a B behind (on the underprint) the serial number.

Ok, so Google's AI Overview may have skewed my understanding about how Indian bills work. I searched on Google what the insert letter on an Indian bill is, and it said that it would be the second character in the prefix (in this example, if this were true, the prefix would read “2BS” if that were the insert letter). It also said that the plate code would be the larger letter behind the serial number. So, just to confirm, the insert letter is the letter behind the serial number? I'm just clarifying, I don't want to make any mistakes. I also don't mean to present myself like I think I know better than the more experienced users on this site, and I hope that I'm not coming off that way. I just like to confirm things like this definitively.

I have no idea why it is called inset or insert but yes the big letter behind/under the serial is what is listed in the year line comments.