There are several forms of money that serve different functions in the economy. The main forms discussed are metallic money (coins), paper money (banknotes), bank money (checks, drafts, bills of exchange), legal tender money, plastic money (credit/debit cards), and near money (highly liquid assets that can be converted to cash like CDs and money market accounts). Each form facilitates different types of transactions and mediums of exchange. Metallic money includes coins that can be token or standard, while paper money transitioned from representative to convertible to fiat/inconvertible notes not backed by reserves. Bank money operates through checks and inter-bank transactions. Legal tender and non-legal tender distinguish what must be

1. FORMS OF MONEY
By: BHANU PRATAP
SINGH

2. INDEX
Introduction
Forms of money.
• Metallic Money
• Paper Money
• Bank Money
• Legal Money
• Plastic Money
• Near Money
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3. INTRODUCTION
Money may be defined as anything which is generally acceptable
as a medium of exchange and at the same time acts as
a measure, store of value and standard of deferred payment.
Money can be in various forms, such as notes, coins, credit and
debit cards, and bank checks. Traditionally, economists considered
four main functions of money, which are
i. Medium of exchange,
ii. Measure of value
iii. Standard of deferred payment
iv. Store of value
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4. There are many forms of money. Following are the main forms of money.
1. Metallic Money
2. Paper Money
3. Bank Money
4. Legal Money
5. Plastic Money
6. Near Money
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5. Metallic money
Metallic money are the money which are issued by the central bank of a country in
form of metals that acts as an unlimited legal tender in the economy. Metallic money
is that money whose value of money (face-value) is greater than the commodity value
(intrinsic value) of money. ie; metallic coin includes 1,2 & 5 rupee coin etc.
There are two types of metallic money. They are:
• Standard money/ Full Bodied Coins: Standard metallic money refers to
the metallic money which is made up of pure and superior metals like gold and
silver. This type of metallic money has the face value just equal to the intrinsic
value(commodity value).
• Token Money: When the face value of a coin is greater than the value of the
metal it contains, it is called token money. One rupee coin is an example of token
money. If it is melted, its metal will not be worth one rupee.

6. Paper money
Paper money are the money which are issued by the central bank of a country in form of paper
that acts as an unlimited legal tender in the economy.
The paper money can be classified into following types:
A. Representative Money: Representative money is that money which is fully backed by
equal metallic reserve. The holder of a bank note can easily get it converted into metallic
(gold & silver) form on demand
B. Convertible Money: It is the form of money which can be converted into gold, silver i.e.
metallic reserves. But all these notes issued by the government are not fully backed by
gold. The amount of gold kept by the government is a particular proportion of the notes
issued.
C. Inconvertible/Fiat Money: Inconvertible or fiat money is one that we have in our pocket
and use in daily business. The face value of such money is more than the value of the
paper. e.g. the value of the paper of 100 rupee note is almost nil but its purchasing power is
equal to Rs.100. it has this value because it has been declared as legal money by the
government, so it is generally accepted as a medium of exchange.

7. Bank Money
This is the most modern form of money this money is also called credit. It only consists of
cheques, bill of exchange and drafts.
1. Cheques: A cheque can be defined as a document that orders a bank to pay a particular
fund amount from an individual’s account to another individual’s account in whose name
the cheque has been issued.
2. Bills of Exchange: A bill of exchange is defined as “an instrument in writing containing an
unconditional order, signed by the maker, directing a certain person to pay a certain sum of
money only to, or to the order of a certain person or to the bearer of the instrument”.
3. Draft: Draft is a cheque drawn by a bank on its own branch or the branches of another
bank requesting it to pay on demand a specific amount to a person named on it.

8. Legal Tender Money
The money that a person accepts as a means of payment and in discharge of debt is called
legal tender notice. All the notes and coins issued by the govt. and the central bank are legal
tender money. Legal tender money is of two types:
A) Limited Legal Tender Money
It is that money which no person can be forced to accept beyond a certain maximum limit fixed
by law. For instance in India, coins are limited legal tender.
B) Un-limited Legal Tender Money
It is the money which a person has to accept up to any limit. There is no limit to quantity of
money offered in payment. For example in India, paper notes are unlimited legal tender
because all currency notes can be used to settle payments of unlimited value.
Non legal tender money
Bank money is the form of cheques, bills of exchange, a promissory notes is not legal tender
money. Robertson says it “optional money”. So non legal tender money is money which a
person may or may not accept as a mean of payment.

9. Plastic Money
Plastic money refers to the hard plastic cards we use every day in place of actual bank notes.
For example ATM cards like credit card and debit card are electronic generated card that acts
as plastic money at the time of buying of goods and services.
Near Money
Near money is a term in financial economics, describing highly liquid non-cash assets that are
easily convertible into cash. Also, near-money can be called quasi-money or cash equivalents.
The proximity of near-money is important to determine the degree of liquidity.
Deposit certificates (CDs), foreign currencies, money market accounts, marketable securities,
and Treasury bills are examples of near-money assets.

10. THAN
K YOU