Little information of Indian currency since 20th century
Few information about Indian currency :-
The Indian rupee (symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency of India used for all economic and financial transactions.
The rupee is subdivided into 100 paise (singular: paisa) which is also known as 01 Rupee ,the lowest value in use (2022).
The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank of India was founded on 01 April 1935 to respond to economic troubles after the First World War.
The Reserve Bank manages currency in India and derives its role in currency management on the basis of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
In 2010, a new rupee sign (₹) was officially adopted. It was derived from the combination of the Devanagari consonant “र” (ra) and the Latin capital letter “R” without its vertical bar. The first series of coins with the new rupee sign started in circulation on 8 July 2011. Before this, India used “₨” and “Re” as the symbols for multiple rupees and one rupee, respectively.
On 8 November 2016, the Government of India announced the demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes with effect from midnight of the same day, making these notes invalid. A newly redesigned series of ₹500 banknote, in addition to a new denomination of ₹2,000 banknote is in circulation since 10 November 2016.
From 2017 to 2019 the remaining banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series were released in denominations of ₹10, ₹20, ₹50, ₹100 and ₹200.The ₹1,000 note had been discontinued . The ₹2,000 note had been continued .
Note : The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India’s central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for the issue and supply of the Indian rupee.It is a member bank of the Asian Clearing Union. The bank is also active in promoting financial inclusion policy and is a leading member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI). The bank is often referred to by the name ‘Mint Street’.
Also ,the Imperial Bank of India (IBI) was one of the oldest and the largest commercial bank of the Indian subcontinent, and was subsequently transformed into the State Bank of India in 1955.
The Imperial Bank of India (IBI) which came into existence on 27 January 1921 through the reorganization and amalgamation of the three Presidency Banks of colonial India into a single banking entity. Initially, as per its royal charter, it acted as the central bank for British India prior to the formation of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 1935.
Moreover, the immediate predecessor of the rupee is the rūpiya—the silver coin weighing 178 grains minted in northern India by first Sher Shah Suri during his brief rule between 1540 and 1545 and adopted and standardized later by the Mughal empire.
The history of the Indian rupee traces back to ancient India in 6th century BC, ancient India was one of the earliest issuers of coins in the world, along with Lydian stater [The Lydian Stater was the official coin of the Lydian Empire, introduced before the kingdom fell to the Persian Empire] ; several other Middle Eastern coinages and the Chinese wen.
Historically, the rupee was a silver coin. Arthashastra, written by Acharya Chanakya, prime minister to the first Maurya emperor Chakravarti Samrat Chandragupta Maurya (340–290 BC), mentioned “silver coins as rūpyarūpa” , “gold coins (suvarṇarūpa)” , “copper coins (tamrarūpa)” and “lead coins (sīsarūpa). Rūpa means ‘form’ or ‘shape’; for example, in the word rūpyarūpa meant rūpya ‘wrought silver’ and rūpa ‘form’.
Later ,during the five-year rule from 1540 to 1545 of Sher Shah Suri (of the Sur empire) issued a coin of silver, weighing 178 grains (11.53 grams), which was also termed the rupiya.During Babur’s time, the silver coin remained in use during the Mughal period, Maratha era as well as in British India.Among the earliest issues of paper rupees include; the Bank of Hindustan (1770–1832), the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar (1773–75, established by Warren Hastings), and the Bengal Bank (1784–91). This coinage system continued more or less across the Indian subcontinent well till 20th century.
Rupee was/is the common name for the currencies of India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the UAE (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, Burma, German East Africa (as Rupie/Rupien), and Tibet. In Indonesia and the Maldives the unit of currency is known as rupiah and rufiyaa respectively.
The Indian rupees (₹) and Pakistani rupees (₨) are subdivided into 100 paise. The Mauritian, Seychellois, and Sri Lankan rupees subdivide into 100 cents. The Nepalese rupee subdivides into 100 paisa.
Most importantly, the Indian word rupyā is derived from the Sanskrit word rūpya (रूप्य), which means “wrought silver, a coin of silver”, in origin an adjective meaning “shapely”, with a more specific meaning of “stamped, impressed”, whence “coin”. It is derived from the noun rūpa (रूप) “shape, likeness, image”.
Therefore , it is rightly said “thieves never retire” and “once a thief , always a thief” . “Thieves will always be thieves” because the term “Rupee” came from Sanskrit term “Rupa” – was also a stolen word from India , stolen by muslims and christians.