History of the rupee
History of the rupee, which is the Indian currency, has a fascinating, mysterious past. The earliest issuers of coins were ancient Indians, together with Lydian’s and Chinese. Puranas are the first coins in India which were punch-marked. During the 6th century, the Mahajanapadas of ancient India minted the Pana or Karshapanas. These included Kuntala, Panchala, Gandhara, Kuru, Surasena, Saurashtra, and Panchala. Then the coins were punched with a royal standard by the Mauryas. Chanakya, who was the prime minister to Chandragupta Maurya, who was the first Mauryan emperor, talks about the minting of coins, for instance, Suvarnagupa(gold), rupyarupa (silver), sisarupa (lead), and tamararupa (copper) in his treatise.
Kushan kings who were Indo-Greek came next and established the engraving portrait heads on coins, which was a Greek custom. For about eight centuries, this example was adhered to. The Kushan empire’s extensive coinage also led to most of the tribes, kingdoms, and dynasties that started giving out their coins. A large number of gold coins showing the Gupta kings doing some rituals were later produced by the Gupta Empire. This tradition of complex engraved coins went on until the Turkish Sultanate arrived in North India.
The Turkish Sultans of Delhi during the 12th century used Islamic calligraphy on the coins replacing the Indian kings’ royal design. The coins which were made of silver, copper, and gold were called Tanka, with jittals being the coins with a lower value. Delhi tried to also regulate the monetary system by introducing coins that had different values. From 1526 AD, during the beginning of the Mughal empire, it was characterized by a consolidated and unified monetary system that was meant for the whole empire. The most crucial moment in the history of rupee evolution happened when, after concurring Humayun, Sher Shah Suri began a new military and civic administration. He supplied one silver coin which weighed 178 g and was known as the rupiya and was split into 40 pieces of copper, also known as paisa. During the rest of the Mughal period, the silver coin was still in use.
During the 1600s, the British East India Company began operations in India, at the time the silver of Sher Shah Rupiya had been established as the standard currency that was popular in the country. Even though they tried several times to bring in India the sterling pound, the rupaya became more popular and it was even exported to British colonies as currency. In 1717 AD, Farrukh Siyar, the Mughal emperor, allowed the English to coin the money of Mughai at the Bombay Mint. Carolina was the name of the British gold coins, Angelina was the silver coins, cupperoon the copper coins, and the tinny was the tin coins. During the 18th century, the British established the first paper money in India with the General Bank in Bengal, the Bengal Bank, and the Bank of Hindostan being the first Indian banks to supply paper currency. The Bank of Bengal issued the oldest banknote, which is still surviving in India, which is a 250 sicca rupees note and dated 3rd September 1812.
The rupee was made the official colonial Indian currency by the British after the revolt in 1857, with King George VI head being used in the note replacing the banknotes and coins native design. Coins and banknotes with the Victoria portrait were issued in 1862 to honor Queen Victoria, and afterward, many emperors did the same. The notes belonging to this series were torn into two halve for security purposes, one half was posted, and after confirming the receipt, the remaining half was also sent.
The Indian Reserve bank was established formally in1935 and was given the mandate to supply the Indian government with notes. Ten thousand notes were printed by the bank, this being the highest note denomination in history to ever be printed in the bank, which were demonetized later after independence. Reverse Bank of India (RBI) supplied the first paper currency, which was a 5 rupee note with the portrait of King George VI in January 1938. In 1947 after India gained independence, India’s monetary system was not changed for some time, with 64 pice making 1 rupee. After independence, the first note India printed as 1 rupee.
The 1955 amendment act that was enforced on 1st April 1957 launched the decimal series. Instead of 64 pice or 16 annas, 100 paisa constituted 1 rupee. Later on in 1996, prominent new features for additional security such as latent images, intaglio features for people with visual impairment, windowed security threats, and changed watermarks made the “Mahatma Gandhi” series. In 2010, India acknowledged its role in organizing the Commonwealth Games with 2 and 5 rupee coins as memorials.