The history of money boasts quite a fascinating past. Read
on for a brief glimpse your wallet’s – financial history. The rupee in your
pocket holds a long history of struggle and exploration that can be traced back
to the ancient India of the 6th century BC. Ancient Indians were the
early issuers of coins in the world. The first Indian coins were minted back in
the 6th century BC by the Mahajanapadas.
• Then came the
Mauryas who marked their coins with a royal standard such as rupyarupa
(silver), suvarnarupa (gold), tamararupa
(copper) and sisarupa (lead).
• Later, the
Indo-Greek kings introduced the Greek tradition of engraving portrait heads on
coins and this practice was followed for the next eight centuries by the
following kings.
• The Gupta Empire
produced large numbers of gold coins depicting the Gupta kings performing
various rituals and this tradition of engraved coins continued till the arrival
of the Turkish Sultanate.
• The arrival of
Turkish Sultans changed the monetary system a lot. By the 12th
century AD, the Turkish Sultans of Delhi had replaced the various designs of
the Indian kings with Islamic art. The Turkish Delhi Sultanate also attempted
to standardize the monetary system by issuing coins of different values and
calligraphy.
• Later came the
Mughals and they ruled India for a long time. The beginning of the Mughal
Empire from 1526 AD brought forth a unified and consolidated monetary system
for the entire empire.
• When Sher Shah
Suri defeated Humayun, evolution of the rupee occurred soon after he began
ruling. Sher Shah Suri set up a new civic administration and he also issued a
coin of silver, weighing 178 grains, which was termed the rupiya and was
divided into 40 copper pieces or paisa. These silver coins remained in use
during the remaining Mughal period.
• It was the start
of 17th century when British arrived in India, they tried to
introduce sterling pound. But, Sher Shah’s silver rupiya had already become the
most popular standard currency in the country and was even exported as a
currency to other British colonies.
• In 1717 AD, the
English got permission from Mughal emperor Farrukh Siyar to coin Mughal money
at the Bombay Mint and paper money was first issued in British India in the 18th
century with the Bank of Hindostan, General Bank in Bengal and the Bengal Bank.
• After the 1857
revolt, the British replaced the old native designs on banknotes and coins with
the head of King George VI and made rupee the official currency of colonial India.
• The Reserve Bank
of India was formally set up in 1935 and it empowered to issue Government of
India notes.
• A new ‘anna
system’ was introduced on August 15, 1950. One rupee now consisted of 16 annas.
The British King’s portrait was replaced with the engraving of Ashoka’s Lion
Capital of Sarnath, and the tiger on the 1 rupee coin was replaced with a corn
sheaf.
• Newly independent
India changed fast and the 1955 Indian Coinage (Amendment) Act, which came into
force on April 1, 1957, introduced a ‘decimal series’. One rupee was now
divided into 100 paisa instead of 16 annas.
• Big changes in
currency came in the year 1996 when the ‘Mahatma Gandhi Series’ was introduced
with prominent new features such as changed watermarks, windowed security
threads, latent images, and intaglio features for the visually handicapped.
This was further replaced in 2005 by the ‘MG series’ notes for some additional
security.
• Since 2010, other
commemorative coins have also been issued – 60th anniversary of the
Indian Parliament, the 150th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, and more
recently, International Day of Yoga.
Undoubtedly, money matters and financial literacy can really
help us in using money sensibly.
For more information log on to http://indusleap.com/finwin/
#Succeed
in NFLAT
Source: thebetterindia
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