First Rupee Coin Minted - This Day in History [August 19, 1757]

The Journey to the First Rupee Coin – A Backstory

• As per a treaty with the Nawab of Bengal, the Calcutta Mint was established by the Company.
• The Company, when it set up Fort William in Calcutta in 1700, did not initially have the right to mint its own coins. However, in 1717, the British managed to acquire the rights to mint coins under the Mughal Emperor's name.
• The Company used to send gold and silver bullions to the Surat mint, which was controlled by the local Nawab (Governor of the Mughal Emperor), to be turned into coins.
• The Ahmedabad mint was also utilized later to cater to the increasing demand.
• All coins in the Bengal Presidency were issued in the name of the Mughal Emperor, initially Alamgir II and later Shah Alam II.
• After the Battle of Buxar , the East India Company was granted the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. Post this event, the coins were issued in the name of the Company itself.
• In the early days, the three presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay issued their own coins. A uniform coinage was only introduced after the Calcutta Mint was established in 1835, and the coins bore the head of the British sovereign King William IV.
• Post the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and the transfer of power from the Company to the British Crown, the mints started issuing coins in the name of the British monarch.
• Coins were minted in gold, silver, copper, and tin.
• Up until 1957, the following monetary system was in place in India:

1 pie = 1/12 anna

1 pice = ¼ anna

1 anna = 1/16 rupee

15 rupees = 1 mohur

• The Calcutta Mint ceased operations in 1952, and a new mint was set up at Alipore.

Also on This Day 

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1916

: Birth of former Indian President Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma. 1919: Afghanistan secures independence from Britain as per the Rawalpindi Treaty. 1991: K R Narayanan takes office as the ninth President of India.

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