Khissa Ek Rupaiya Ka – Kaagaz (The story of One Rupee)- Part 2 of 3

Before I move on to the second part of the story i.e. Kaagaz (when the One Rupee Paper Note replaced the Silver Coin), I want to share some  more interesting facts about the One Rupee Silver coin in today's post.

Let us first trace the origin of the word "Rupee". It is from the Sanskrit word "Rupaiya" meaning "wrought silver" to denote silver coins in general. The Mauryas called their silver coins "Rupyarupa"and gold coins "Suvarnarupa", while the Guptas called them "Rupala" and "Dinar". Sher Shah Suri, who defeated Emperor Humayun in 1538 CE and ascended the throne of Delhi for 7 years (1538-45 CE)  introduced the Silver Rupee called the Rupiya of standardised weight of  178 grains or 11.6 grams to replace the 10 gm mixed metal Tankha. This continued during the time of the later Mughals as well as the British, the latter calling it "Rupee" with weight of 11.66 grams. Sher Shah also issued copper coins called Dam, which were also known as Paisa. 

During the seize of Kalingar Fort in Bundelkhand, Sher Shah Suri was killed accidentally on May 22,1545. His impressive mausoleum was built in the middle of an artificial lake in Sasaram on the Grand Trunk Road, which was modernised by him and runs from Bangladesh to Afghanistan. He built inns for travellers, planted trees, dug wells all along the G.T. Road. He also established an efficient postal system, with mail being carried by relays of horse riders. His son Islam Shah Suri succeeded him.

Sher Shah Suri Silver Rupee (1540 CE): Obverse is inscribed with the Islamic Kalima (La ilah-il-illah Muhammad ur Rasool Allah) and the names of the first four holy Khalifas- Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman and Ali. It also has the full name of Sher Shah, the issuing mint and year of issue. Some of these coins also have his name in Devnagari script- Sri Ser Sah (highlighted in green above).

Sher Shah Suri Mausoleum at Sasaram

Islam Shah Suri Silver Rupee : Mint Shergarh with the names of the four Khalifas and Sri Islam Sah written in Devnagari script (highlighted by green arrows).

[Author note:We will be discussing the evolution of the Silver Rupee from the later Mughals to British India in a separate Blog to follow.]

It is interesting to note that in British India, apart from the British East India Company which was issuing one rupee silver coins from its Calcutta mint weighing one tola (11.66 gms), the Princely States were also authorised to issue their own currency by printing the portrait of Empress/Emperor on the Obverse, and the name of the Princely State and the ruler on the Reverse. 

The Bikaner State One Rupee Silver Coin (1897 CE 11.65 gms) has on the Obverse the crowned bust of Victoria Empress with her name written on it; the name of the ruler Maharaja Ganga Singh Bahadur is written on the Reverse. 

Similarly, the Alwar State One Rupee Silver Coin (1877 CE 11.67 gms) has on the Obverse the crowned bust of Victoria Empress with her name written on it; on the Reverse Maharao Raja Sawai Mangal Singh Bahadur is written. I am sharing these coins from my collection.

Obverse	Reverse

Kaagaz - a historical retrospective 

As seen earlier, the One Rupee Coin was initially made of silver. When during World War I silver became scarce and costly, the first One Rupee Paper Note was introduced in British India to replace the silver rupee coin on November 30, 1917 with a photo of the prevalent silver coin having the portrait of King George V on the Obverse left corner.

The first One Rupee Note was issued as a promissory note and had “I promise to pay the bearer the sum of One Rupee on demand at any office of issue” written on it and was printed in England. It promised the value of a one rupee silver coin which was printed on the reverse of the note and was a token currency. It will be observed that the current One Rupee Note is considered a “coin” (an asset) and not a “promissory note” (which is a liability) as the words “I promise to pay …” have been removed from it. In fact, the One Rupee Note issued in 1940 with the portrait of King George V did not carry these words and was, therefore, not a promissory note. 

Major changes to the One Rupee Note were made in 1940 when the British reduced the size to half, in 1949 when the Indian Government replaced the British symbols with those of India and the last in 2015 when the note was re-introduced in the current form. It is intriguing to note that the printing of the One Rupee Note which was introduced in 1917 was discontinued first in 1926 because its printing was costlier than its value but was re-introduced in 1940 only to be discontinued in 1994, again on “cost benefit consideration” and once again re-introduced in 2015 after a gap of 20 years.

  

 British India One Rupee Note signed by MMS Gubbay with portrait of King George V (1917) [image source: www.indian-coins.com]

British India One Rupee Note with portrait of King George VI (1940) [image source: www.indian-coins.com]

In 1861, the Bank of England printed the first currency notes for India and these were issued for the first time in March, 1862. The contract with the Bank of England for printing Indian currency notes was terminated from January 1, 1928 and currency notes started being printed at the Currency Note Press (CNP), Nasik which was formally inaugurated on April 14, 1928. CNP first printed the Rs. 5 note which was released on October 9, 1928. Similarly, Rs. 100 note was printed, Rs. 10 note (issued in July, 1930) and Rs. 50 note. Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 10,000 notes were printed at CNP from 1931 onwards. While the earlier notes of the two denominations of Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 10,000 could be encashed only at their office of issue - Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Kanpur, Lahore and Rangoon, the new notes were universalised and were encashable anywhere in the country.  

In the meantime, the Reserve Bank of India, envisaged as the central bank of the country, became operational from April 1, 1935 with one of it’s primary functions being “to regulate the issue of Bank notes”. In terms of Section 22 of the RBI Act, 1934 only the Reserve Bank of India is authorised to issue currency notes of all denominations with the signature of the RBI Governor, except for the one rupee note which is issued by the Ministry of Finance with the signature of the Finance Secretary.  

Incidentally, the watermark paper for the currency notes was imported from England till 1968 when the Security Paper Mill, Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh was established. Till 1975, all currency notes were printed at the Currency Note Press, Nasik. However, now there are four printing presses for supply of currency notes located at Dewas (Madhya Pradesh), Nasik (Maharashtra), Mysore (Karnataka) and Salboni (West Bengal). CNP, Nasik is printing currency notes of Rs. 1, Rs. 2, Rs. 5, Rs. 10, Rs. 50 and Rs. 100, while Bank Notes Press, Dewas is printing Rs. 20, Rs. 50, Rs. 100, Rs. 500 and Rs. 2,000 currency notes. 

Once printed, the distribution of currency notes is through more than 4000 currency chests of commercial banks spread across the country. The denomination of currency notes presently in circulation is Rs.5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 2000, apart from the One Rupee Note.

It is interesting that even though India became independent on August 15, 1947 currency notes of the colonial era continued to be issued by RBI and only in 1949, the Government of India came up with the new design of the one rupee note. Initially, the portrait of the King was to be replaced with that of Mahatma Gandhi to symbolise independent India and designs were prepared accordingly, but ultimately the Lion Capital of Sarnath was chosen to replace the King’s portrait. The design of the new note matched the earlier one and since 1951, every one rupee note has a replica of the one rupee coin of that year on the reverse (Indian coins were first introduced only on August 15, 1950). You can see how the design of the one rupee note has been modified over the years and when the one rupee note completed 100 years of issuance in 2017, 44 designs of it had been issued till then.

Government of India - One Rupee Note signed by Shri K R K Menon(1949) [image source: www.indian-coins.com]

One Rupee Note signed by Shri K G Ambegaonkar (1950) [image source: www.indian-coins.com]

One Rupee Note signed by Shri H M Patel (1951) [image source: www.indian-coins.com]

One Rupee Note signed by Shri A K Roy (1957)

One Rupee Note signed by Shri S Bhoothalingam (1964)

In 1969, as part of the centenary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, the Lion Capital was replaced by his photo on the obverse of the one rupee note in the commemorative series.

Mahatma Gandhi Centenary Issue – One Rupee Note signed by Shri I G Patel (1969)

The year of issue of the One Rupee Note can be ascertained from the replica of the one rupee coin on the reverse which has the year written on it (in the above One Rupee Note signed by Shri M G Kaul - 1974). 

During the 1980s, as a symbol of Progress “Sagar Samrat” the oil exploration platform became the motif on the reverse of the one rupee notes signed below by Shri Pratap Kishen Kaul (1983), Shri Gopi Kishen Arora (1989), Shri Satya Prakash Shukla (1991) and Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia (1992).

                                       

   

One Rupee Note with Sagar Samrat Oil Rig on reverse

In 2010, the RBI and the Government formalised a unique symbol (₹) for the Indian Rupee and the new Rupee symbol became a part of the Indian currency and coins from 2011.

As discussed earlier, printing of the one rupee note (discontinued in 1994) was re-introduced in 2015 after a gap of 20 years. Interestingly, the cost of printing a one rupee note had become Rs. 1.14 (i.e. more than its value) according to the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India (SPMCIL). The note was released by Finance Secretary Shri Rajiv Mehirishi at Srinathji Temple, Rajasthan on March 5, 2015. The colour of the note was predominantly pink green, rectangular in size with dimension of 97mm x 63 mm. On the reverse is a replica of the new one rupee coin with ₹ symbol in which the design of the grains, depicting the agricultural dominance of the country, were replaced by the lotus flower. The surrounding design continued to be a picture of the “Sagar Samrat” the oil exploration platform, the language panel on the left had fifteen Indian languages and the year of issue was for the first time written at the bottom middle, in addition to on the replica of the one rupee coin. 

One Rupee Note with ₹ symbol signed by Shri Rajiv Mehirishi (2015)

One Rupee Note signed by Shri Ratan P Watal (2016)

One Rupee Note signed by Shri Shaktikanta Das (2017)

 

One Rupee Note signed by Shri Subhash Ch. Garg (2018)

In the 2018 note, the year of issue was inserted in between the one rupee coin replica and the oil rig.

It will be observed from the signatories of the One Rupee Note that there are so far eight Finance Secretaries who have not only signed the One Rupee Note, but  later on as RBI Governor, signed all other denominations of the Indian currency.

One Rupee Note signed by Shri Laxmi Kant Jha (1957)

Secretary MOF (1964 to 1966) and RBI Governor (01.07.1967 to 03.05.1970)  

One Rupee Note signed by Shri S. Jagannathan (1967)

Finance Secretary (1967 to 1968) and RBI Governor (16.06.1970 to 19.05.1975)  

One Rupee Note signed by Shri I G Patel (1969)

Special Secretary MOF (1968 to 1972) and RBI Governor (01.12.1977 to 15.09.1982)  

 

One Rupee Note signed by Shri Manmohan Singh (1976)

Secretary MOF (1976 to 1980) and RBI Governor (16.09.1982 to 14.01.1985)

 

 One Rupee Note signed by Shri R N Malhotra (1980)

s Finance Secretary (1980 to 1981) and RBI Governor (04.02.1985 to 22.12.1990)

 

One Rupee Note signed by Shri S Venkitaramanan (1988)

Finance Secretary (1985 to 1989) and RBI Governor (22.12.1990 to 21.12.1992)

 

One Rupee Note signed by Shri Bimal Jalan (1990)

Finance Secretary (1990) and RBI Governor (22.11.1997 to 06.09.2003)

 

One Rupee Note signed by Shri Shaktikanta Das (2017)

Secretary, MOF (2017) and RBI Governor (11.12.2018 onwards)

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© Sushil Kumar Mishra 2020