Countries where the rupee is the name of the official currency

rupiya released by Sher Shah Suri, 1540-1545 CE, was the first rupee

French East India Company-issued rupee in the name of Mohammed Shah (1719-1748) for Northern India trade, cast in Pondicherry.

Nepalese rupee

Indonesian rupiah

Maldivian rufiyaa

The rupee is the common name for the monetary unit of account in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives, Indonesia (as the Rupiah), and formerly in Burma, and Afghanistan. Historically, the first currency called "rupee" was introduced in the 16th century by Sher Shah Suri, founder of the Sur Empire. The term is from rūpya-, a Sanskrit term for silver coin.^[1]

In the Maldives, the unit of currency is known as the rufiyah, which is a cognate word of Hindi rupiya. Both the Indian rupees () and the Pakistani are subdivided into one hundred paise (singular paisa) or pice. The Mauritian and Sri Lankan rupees subdivide into 100 cents. The Nepalese rupee subdivides into one hundred paisas (both singular and plural) or four Sukas or two Mohors.

Afghanistan's currency was also denominated in Afghan rupees until 1925, with each Afghan rupee subdividing into 60 paisas. Prior to the introduction of the Afghan rupee in 1891, the legal currency was the Kabuli rupee. Until the middle of the twentieth century, Tibet's official currency was also known as the Tibetan rupee.^[2] The Indian rupee was the official currency of Dubai and Qatar until 1959, when India created a new Gulf rupee (also known as the "External rupee") to hinder the smuggling of gold.^[3] The Gulf rupee was legal tender until 1966, when India significantly devalued the Indian rupee and a new Qatar-Dubai Riyal was established to provide economic stability.^[3]

Alternative names and pronunciations[link]

"Rupee" is abbreviated as Re. (singular), Rs. (plural) and as sign (Indian rupee symbol) in the case of the Indian rupee, a combination of the Devanagari letter "र" (ra) and the Roman capital letter "R".^[4]

Various languages render the word 'rupee' slightly differently -

• Assamese: টকা ṭakā
• Bengali: টাকা ṭākā
• Dhivehi: ރުފިޔާ rufiyā
• Gujarati: રૂપિયો rupiyo
• French: roupie
• Hindi-Urdu: रुपया روپیہ rupiyā
• Indonesian: rupiah
• Kannada: ರೂಪಾಯಿ rūpāyi
• Malayalam: രൂപ rūpa
• Marathi: रुपया rupayā
• Nepali: रुपैया rupaiyā
• Oriya: ଟଙ୍କା ṭaṁkā
• Pashto: روپۍ rupëi
• Portuguese: rupia
• Punjabi: ਰੁਪਈਆ rupīā
• Sinhala: රුපියල rupiyal
• Spanish: rupia
• Sanskrit: रूप्यकम् rūpyakam
• Tamil: ரூபாய் rūbāy
• Telugu: రూపాయి rūpāyi
• Turkish: Rupi

Etymology[link]

The Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) word rūpiya is derived form Sanskrit word rūpya, which means "wrought silver, a coin of silver",^[5] in origin an adjective meaning "shapely", with a more specific meaning of "stamped, impressed", whence "coin". It is derived from the noun rūpa "shape, likeness, image." The word rūpa is being further identified as having sprang from the Dravidian root uruppu, which means "a member of the body".^[6]

Rūpya was used as a generic descriptor or a common noun for silver coins of any denomination at least since the Magadha kingdom. Rūpiya was adopted as the name of a silver coin weighing 178 grains minted in northern India by Pashtun (Afghan) Emperor Sher Shah Suri during his brief rule between 1540–1545. Suri also introduced copper coins called Dam and gold coins called Mohur that weighed 169 grains.^[7] Later Mughal Emperors also standardised this coinage of tri-metalism across the sub-continent in order to consolidate the monetary system.

Value[link]

The derivative word Rūpaya was used to denote the coin introduced by Sher Shah Suri during his reign from 1540 to 1545. The original Rūpaya was a silver coin weighing 178 grains (11.534 grams)^{[citation needed]}. The coin has been used since then, even during the times of British India, defined as 11.66g of .917% silver with an ASW of .3437 of a Troy ounce^[8] (that is, silver worth about US$10 at modern prices).^[9] At the end of the 19th century the Indian silver rupee went unto a gold exchange standard at a fixed rate of 1 rupee to one shilling and fourpence in British currency, or 15 rupees to 1 pound sterling.

Valuation of the rupee based on its silver content had severe consequences in the nineteenth century, when the strongest economies in the world were on the gold standard. The discovery of vast quantities of silver in the United States and various European colonies resulted in a decline in the relative value of silver to gold. Suddenly the standard currency of India could not buy as much from the outside world. This development was known as "the fall of the rupee". On 31th May 2012, the value of Indian Rupee against US Dollar tumbled to 56.50, which is at its all time low.^[10]

Denomination[link]

Formerly the rupee (11.66 g, .917 fine silver) was divided into 16 annas, 64 paise, or 192 pies. Early 19th century East India Company rupees were used in Australia for a limited period. Decimalisation occurred in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1969, India in 1957 and in Pakistan in 1961. Thus an Indian rupee is now divided into 100 Paise and so is the Pakistani rupee. Paisa is sometimes referred to as Naya-Paisa, meaning the "new-money" in India, a habit continued from when India became independent—when the new country introduced new currency, people used Naya-Paisa to distinguish it from the old currency. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India, whereas in the Pakistan it is controlled by State Bank of Pakistan. The most commonly used symbol for the rupee is "Rs.". India adopted a new symbol() for Indian rupees on 15 July 2010.

In most parts of India, the rupee is known as rupaya, rupaye, or one of other terms derived from the Sanskrit rupya, meaning silver. However, in the Bengali and Assamese languages, spoken in Assam, Tripura, and West Bengal, the rupee is known as a Taka, and is written as such on Indian banknotes. In India and Pakistan currency is issued in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 rupees. Pakistan currency is also issued in a denomination of 5000 rupees. Large denominations of rupees are often counted in lakh (100,000 = 1 Lakh, 100 Lakh = 1 Crore/karor, 100 Crore/karor = 1 Arab, 100 Arab = 1 Kharab/khrab, 100 Kharab/khrab = 1 Neel, 100 Neel = 1 Padma, 100 Padma = 1 Shankh, 100 shankh = 1 Udpadha, 100 Udpadha= 1 ank). Terms beyond a crore are not generally used in the context of money, e.g. an amount would be called Rs 1 lakh crore (equivalent to 1 trillion) instead of Rs 10 Kharab.

East African Coast and South Arabia[link]

In East Africa, Arabia, and Mesopotamia the rupee and its subsidiary coinage was current at various times. The usage of the rupee in East Africa extended from Somalia in the north, to as far south as Natal. In Mozambique the British India rupees were overstamped, and in Kenya the British East Africa Company minted the rupee and its fractions as well as pice. The rise in the price of silver immediately after the first world war caused the rupee to rise in value to two shillings sterling. In 1920 in British East Africa, the opportunity was then taken to introduce a new florin coin, hence bringing the currency into line with sterling. Shortly after that, the Florin was split into two East African shillings. This assimilation to sterling did not however happen in British India itself. In Somalia the Italian colonial authority minted 'rupia' to exactly the same standard, and called the pice 'besa'.

Straits Settlements[link]

The Straits Settlements were originally an outier of the British East India Company. The Spanish dollar had already taken hold in the Straits Settlements by the time the British arrived in the 19th century, however, the East India Company tried to introduce the rupee in its place. These attempts were resisted by the locals, and by 1867 when the British government took over direct control of the Straits Settlements from the East India Company, attempts to introduce the rupee were finally abandoned.

Sign[link]

It is common to find a prefix before the digits denoting the rupee currency value written as "Re. 1" (For one unit), or "Rs. 140" (for more than one rupee).

The Indian rupee is represented by the Indian rupee sign, .

On 5 March 2009, the Indian government announced a contest to create a sign for the Indian rupee.^[11][12] During the 2010 Union Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee mentioned that the proposed sign would reflect and capture the Indian ethos and culture.^[13] Five signs created by Nondita Correa-Mehrotra, Hitesh Padmashali, Shibin KK, Shahrukh J Irani, and D Udaya Kumar^[14][15] had been short-listed^[15] from around 3,331 responses received and one of them was to be finalized at the Union Council of Ministers of India meeting held on 24 June 2010.^[16] The decision was deferred by a request of the Finance Minister,^[13] and it was decided when they met again on 15 July 2010,^[17] and selected the symbol created by D.Udaya Kumar son of N. Dharmalingam, a former DMK MLA.^[18]

The selection process was challenged under the Right to Information Act in the Delhi High Court. The petitioner, Rakesh Kumar, who was a participant in the competition, described the process as "full of discrepancies" and "flawed", and named the Finance Ministry and the chairman of Indian Rupee Symbol Selection Committee as respondents.^[19]

On 26 November 2010, the Delhi High single bench Court dismissed the writ petition, stating there was no justifiable ground for the stated allegations.^[20] But on 31 March 2011, Chief Justice and Justice Sanjiv Khanna of Delhi High Court in their judgment court allowed RTI activist Rakesh Kumar Singh to file PIL against “Indian Rupee symbol selection process”.

According to Guideline No. 5 of the contest process, submitted symbols were required to be "in the Indian National Language Script or a visual representation". It has been argued that this violates the Constitution of India, because that does not specify any particular Indian Language Script as the Indian National Language Script.^[21]

On April 25, 2012 Delhi High court issues notice to government of India over rupee and other symbols selection process.

Fictional use[link]

The rupee is the currency used in the Legend of Zelda and Rappelz video games.

In Super Paper Mario, the protagonist, Mario, is forced to collect rupees (called 'rubees') in Chapter 2.

Famously referred to by Miss Prism in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest : "Cecily, you will read your Political Economy in my absence. The chapter on the Fall of the Rupee you may omit. It is somewhat too sensational. Even these metallic problems have their melodramatic side."

See also[link]

• Indian rupee
• Pakistani Rupee
• Coins of British India
• History of the rupee
• Crore, a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to ten million (10,000,000), used for large Rupee amounts

References[link]

External links[link]

• Picture of original Mughal rupiya introduced by Sher Shah Suri
• Pakistani Currency by Mian Ji
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "rupee". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• New rupee symbol reflects strength of economy

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