ABSTRACT
When the British first came into power in Bengal, in 1765, the first economic problem that faced them was the currency of the country. Diverse kinds of rupees were then in circulation, in various stages of debasement. In framing their schemes of reform, the servants of the East India Company were naturally guided by the economic doctrines then current in England, subject to modifications due to the peculiar social and economic condition of Bengal. Expert economic opinion in England was at that time opposed to bimetallism. In the very year of the battle of Plassey, 1757, Harris, in his Essay Upon Money and Coins, condemned bimetallism. He considered silver to be the fittest material for money, as being less subject to fluctuations than gold. But neither silver nor gold monometallism was then practicable in Bengal. Verelst who succeeded Clive as the Governor of Bengal, had sounder knowledge of economic theory.
