Next: Money foundations
Inflation, and why ₹100 shrinks
Prices rise, so the same money buys less every year — and why a deposit paying 6% against 6% inflation leaves you no better off than when you started.
13 min
beginner
What money actually is
Why a ₹500 note is worth ₹500 when nothing is set aside behind it, who decides that, and why "legal tender" obliges far less than everyone assumes.
2 lessons · about 12 minutes · written for reading age 13 · last checked 2026-08-01
From barter to UPI
Money is a shared agreement, not a thing with value of its own. That single idea explains why a note you print yourself is worth nothing at all.
6 min
Who controls the money
The RBI issues notes, sets the repo rate and supervises banks — but it is only one of several regulators here, so a complaint sent to the wrong one stalls.
6 min
Check yourself
3 questions at the end. Every wrong answer explains itself.
What changed recently
Dated commentary on this topic — a Budget change, a new rule, a scam pattern.
Sources
- Reserve Bank of India — regulations and public awareness — Reserve Bank of India · checked 2026-08-01