The Indian Rupee is the official currency of the Reserve Bank of India which is responsible for the issuance of the currency. The symbol that was introduced for rupee nationally in July, 2010 is “Rs.”. This symbol was launched by D. Uday Kumar. The most commonly used an sign for the Rupee before the launch of the official symbol is “Rs.”. The ISO 4217 code for the Indian rupee is INR.
In most parts of India, the Rupee is recognised as the rupee, rupaye, Rubai, or one of other terms resulting from the Sanskrit rupyakam, raupya meaning silver; rupyakam meaning (coin) of silver. On the other hand, in the Bengali and Assamese languages, spoken in Assam, Tripura, and West Bengal, the Rupee is recognised as a Taka, and is printed as such on Indian banknotes.
Overview
The Indian Rupee is divided into 100 paise (singular paisa). As is typical in Indian English, large values of Indian rupees are calculated in terms of thousand, lakh (100 thousand, in digits 1,00,000), and crore (10 million, in digits 1,00,00,000). Use of million or billion, is normal in American or British English, is far less used.
History
India has been one of the first issuers of coins in the world. The first “rupee” is supposed to be introduced by Sher Shah Suri during the period 1486-1545, based on a ratio of 40 copper-coin pieces (paisa) per rupee. Amongst the first issues of paper rupees were those by the Bank of Hindostan (1770-1832), the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar (1773-75, established by Warren Hastings), the Bengal Bank (1784-91), amongst others.
Traditionally, the rupee, a Sanskrit term which means silver, was a silver coin. This had severe concerns in the 19 century, when the toughest economies in the world were on the gold standard. The discovery of vast quantities of silver in the U.S. and a number of European colonies resulted in a weakening in the qualified value of silver to gold. Unexpectedly the normal currency of India could not buy as much from the exterior world. This occasion was known as “the fall of the Rupee.”
In course of the British rule, and the first period of independence, it was divided into 16 Annas. Each Anna was sub-divided into either 4 paise, or 12 pies. Till 1815, the Madras Presidency also allotted a currency grounded on the fanam, with 12 fanams equivalent to the rupee.
It is important to know that resulting independence in 1947, the Indian rupee substituted all the moneys of the before independent states. Some of these states had delivered rupees equal to those delivered by the British (such as the Travancore rupee). Other currencies comprised the Hyderabad rupee and the Kutch kori.
In 1957, decimalisation occurred and the rupee was nowadays divided into 100 Naye Paise (Hindi for new paisas). After a few years, the first “Naye” was released. However, many still refer to 25, 50 & 75 paise as 4, 8 and 12 annas correspondingly, not unlike the now mainly defunct practice of “bit” in American English for 1/8 dollar.
Notes: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is India’s central banking institution, which controls the monetary policy of the Indian rupee.
International Use
Now you must understand that with Partition, the Pakistani Rupee originated into being, originally by means of Indian coins, and Indian currency notes merely over stamped with Pakistan. In previous times, the Indian Rupee was observed as an authorised currency of other countries, comprising Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the Trucial States (now the UAE), and Malaysia. The Gulf Rupee, also recognized as the Persian Gulf Rupee (XPGR), was introduced by the Indian government as a standby for the Indian Rupee for flow entirely outside the country with the Reserve Bank of India [Amendment] Act, May 1, 1959. This creation of a dispersed currency was a challenge to decrease the straining put on India’s foreign reserves by gold smuggling. After India devaluated the rupee on June 6, 1966, those countries still using it - Oman, Qatar and what is now the United Arab Emirates (referred to as the Trucial States until 1971) – substituted the Gulf Rupee with their individual currencies. Kuwait and Bahrain had previously done so in 1961 and 1965 respectively.
The Indian Rupee is also connected with the Bhutanese Ngultrum. The Indian Rupee is also recognised in Nepal and some Indian shops in the United Kingdom. The currency notes in flow are Rs. 5, Rs. 10, Rs. 20, Rs. 50, Rs. 100, Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000. The current series which began in 1996 is referred to as the Mahatma Gandhi series.
All the coins and currency notes are delivered by the Reserve Bank of India, with the exception of the Rs. 1 note which was conventionally give out by the Government of India till it was reserved from circulation. Each banknote has its amount written in seventeen languages (English & Hindi on the front, and 15 others on the back) illustrating the diversity of the country.
The language panels on Indian rupee banknotes display the denomination of the note in all the national languages of India.
