COINS OF INDIA

Coins are pieces of metal that have been assigned a value and stamped with a designed approved by the governing authority. Coins are legal tender. The history of coins of India has evolved over time. Buying and selling began with cowrie shells and beads being used as money. This use of commodity money paved the way for the barter system. Coins evolved from the problems associated with the barter system. Precious metals were shaped and then struck with designs and marks so that they could be used as legal tender or coins in India. For convenience, they have been categorised into ancient , medival, coloniel coins.

The earliest coins of India were silver punch-marked ones. They were struck with individual punches bearing a design and were circulated in the Janapadas. Each Janapada had its own combination of punches. One of the peculiar punch mark coins is that of gandhara janpada. These coins were elongated and punched on each end with the six-armed symbol. Gold, copper, lead and billon coins soon came into circulation.

Coins tell a lot about the ruler who issued them. They speak of events that took place; they tell us the name of the ruler; some coins even tell us which year he ruled in. The designs are aesthetic. Coin in India depict the king, gods, goddesses, and other motifs while medieval ones issued by kings in North India bear inscriptions in Arabic or Persian and the ones in South India depict beautiful motifs coupled with legends.

During the British rule in India, currency slowly, but steadily shifted from precious metals to token currency. Coins of British India were minted in brass, bronze, aluminium, stainless steel, and other metals which were not deemed precious. The coins that we use today in India have a fascinating history. Mintage World is the perfect place to uncover it and learn something new.

COINS OF MODERN INDIA

Though India became independent on 15th August 1947, until 1950, when the constitution was formed, old British coins were still in use as frozen currency. The first Rupee coin of Republic of India was minted in 1950. Other denominations of coins of modern India were also produced like the 1/2 Re, 1/4 Re, 2 Anna, 1 Anna, 1/2 Anna & 1 Pice coins which are also referred as Anna series or pre-decimal coinage. In 1957, India shifted to the decimal system, but for a short period both decimal and non-decimal coins were in circulation.

To differentiate between the 2 pice, the modern India coins minted between 1957 and 1964 have the legend “Naya Paisa” (“new” paisa). The denominations in circulation were 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50 (naya) paise and one rupee which remained as the same pre-decimal value.

The word “naya” was dropped in 1964. In this year a new denomination of 3 paise was introduced and in 1968 a 20 paise coin, both of which did not gain much popularity. Gradually in the 1970s, 1, 2 and 3 paise coins were phased out. An experimental set of 2 rupee coins were minted in 1982 to replace 2 Rs. Notes, which was not minted again until 1990.

In 1988 stainless steel modern India coins of 10, 25 and 50 paise, were introduced and in 1992 a new rupee stainless steel coin was minted which was much lighter than its earlier version. In the same year 5 Rupees Cupronickel coin was introduced and the most recent denomination of modern Indian coinage was the 10 Rupees coin which was minted for the first time in 2005.

As a mark of respect special coins were minted in memory of important events or personalities and these are referred to as commemorative Indian coins. Some of commemorative coins include coins depicting Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, B. R. Ambedkar, Rajiv Gandhi, Dnyaneshwar, 1982–Asian Games, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sri Aurobindo, Chittaranjan Das, Chhatrapati Shivaji and logo of 2010-Commonwealth Games.