ABSTRACT
Till the first quarter of the nineteenth century there existed in India various currencies which were simultaneously in circulation in different parts of the country, each having a different standard and value, and bearing a different device. Thus there were sicca rupees, Sonat rupees, Farruckabad rupees, Arcot rupees, Madras rupees and Bombay repees, and the computation of their respective values involved considerable difficulty. The imperative need for some reform of the Indian currency which might put an end to the existing confusion and facilitate the transaction of business was greatly felt. As early as 1773, Warren Hastings had tried to tackle this knotty problem, but he ‘bungled in his attempts to solve it’. As regards the copper currency, some difficulty was anticipated in the beginning in introducing an entirely now copper coin for the whole of British India, due to the heavy expense involved in withdrawing the existing copper coins and substituting them by the new coin.
