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Rohan Banerjee's avatar

Such impressive research, Aditi. 👏🏽

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Aditi Taswala's avatar

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment.

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Tushar Dadlani's avatar

Do you think each geographic area can have their own currency to define economic value potentially?

This will allow values and culture to reflect in how things are reflected in the goods.

The exchanges and monetary systems can be handled digitally.

The standardization of money across the world can create different power dynamics across regions and making certain regions stronger just based on their currency.

Inherently money is a store of value and the way value is defined changes drastically across regions.

Thoughts?

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Aditi Taswala's avatar

"Do you think each geographic area can have their own currency to define economic value potentially?" Yes, each geographic area can have its own currency to define economic value, and this is actually how most countries operate today. A country or region can successfully maintain its own currency if it has a strong and stable economy to support it. If a country has limited economic resources or weak financial systems, it may be more practical to adopt a stronger, widely accepted currency—like how Monaco uses the Euro. This can help promote stability and make trade with other countries easier.

"This will allow values and culture to reflect in how things are reflected in the goods" Value in goods is not decided by the person who makes them, but by how much people are willing to pay for them in the market. It is by constantly figuring out the equilibrium in an open global market.

"The standardization of money across the world can create different power dynamics across regions and making certain regions stronger just based on their currency." yes I agree, that was the problem with the US dominated Bretton Woods System read here-> https://open.substack.com/pub/filteredkapi/p/how-we-arrived-at-the-exchange-rate?r=5l2cp&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

"Inherently money is a store of value and the way value is defined changes drastically across regions." Yes, that’s exactly why money is so important and why barter doesn’t work well in a global economy. I hope this answers your question?

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Sandeep Kumar Verma's avatar

We need to have one currency for while world just like one Internet.

We need rule based on love instead of law.

We need to be governed by intelligentsia like creators, artists and scientists instead of politicians. For more

https://open.substack.com/pub/joshuto/p/the-greatest-challange-the-golden?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

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H R Venkatesh's avatar

Great to read.

In all this I was wondering when the rupee was introduced? Did the British create it, or did they 'borrow' it from an existing currency. Fascinating that I hadn't considered these questions before :)

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Aditi Taswala's avatar

There is a long history of the rupee dating back to ancient times. A direct line to the modern rupee can be drawn to the silver coin called rūpiya, issued by Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century. Read more here https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/desires-of-a-modern-indian/history-of-the-rupee/

The East India Company in 1835, introduced the British Rupee featuring the English monarch- William IV, ending the long-standing practice of Mughal inscriptions on Company-issued coins. Hope this answers your question!

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H R Venkatesh's avatar

This was good to know. Yes, it does answer my question, thanks!

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Sandeep Kumar Verma's avatar

The reason may lie in my comments.

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H R Venkatesh's avatar

thank you Sandeep, just read it. just absorbing the lessons on rulers manipulating currencies to their own heads and also from your comment. trying now to rush to judgment but holding the thought in my head and seeing where it leads.

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Sandeep Kumar Verma's avatar

Any constructive criticism of my opinion is welcome sir.

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Nihil's avatar

Thank you for this fascinating and meticulously researched piece, Aditi. Your detailed exploration of how the British rupee systematically displaced the diverse native currencies of India's princely states sheds light on an often-overlooked aspect of colonial economic control.

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Aditi Taswala's avatar

Thank you for your kind words!

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Pavan Rikkula's avatar

Thanks. Esp for the references.

Also, you may find this useful for some future article:

https://thewire.in/history/independent-india-secret-uk-us-deal-britain-wartime-debt

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Aditi Taswala's avatar

Thanks!

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Bonny Singh's avatar

This is a great read. So much research and such depth. It has now made me curious to read all the related links on this topic !

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Aditi Taswala's avatar

Please do it makes for a fascinating reading! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!

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roreadsrandomly's avatar

Who was the last Indian ruler to mint his own coinage? Which was the last state to do so?

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Aditi Taswala's avatar

The Nizam of Hyderabad issued Hyderabadi Osmania Sicca Rupees, these notes were legal tender, issued until 1953 in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 100, and 1000 Osmania Sicca Rupees. They coexisted with Indian currency till 1959 when it was demonetised. Read more here-> under section 2- The right to mint coins https://filteredkapi.substack.com/p/how-the-british-controlled-a-fractured

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roreadsrandomly's avatar

Thanks and that's an interesting part of history I didn't know about!!

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Abhishek Singh's avatar

Interesting as always!

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Aditi Taswala's avatar

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment! I appreciate it!

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Sandeep Kumar Verma's avatar

I quote “The Indian rulers couldn’t switch to a gold-based currency because they didn’t have enough gold reserves to support such a move, neither did they have influence over external and internal Indian trade as London did, and they lacked the political freedom to make such a decision against the imperial agenda.”

She pointed to less gold reserve to intimate people of the world that Britishers looted all the reserve that we had once and basis created a currency. Why you could not create such when you had it?

Indian upper caste were happy having total control over illiterate and poor people of villages through their most cruel system in history of mankind ie caste system.

For them it was more important that the lower caste people should not rise above them or even sit equal to them! People with such a low aim could not create anything in their life. Our old superhit Hindi movie Sholey was copy paste shot by shot of a hit western film! And we have no guilt too, leave alone citing it as remake in our movie. Many Arabic tunes were copyed while we keep promoting hatred against muslins

Recently I watched Hollywood movie ‘Origin’ by @Ava DuVernay. And reading book ‘Caste: The origin of our discontent’ by Isabel Wilkerson in which she pointed out exact dates and figures how before Caste system there was no differentiation among people as it still exists among tribal people all over the world.

So what we gave to this world is responsible for millions of deaths worldwide including hundreds of millions within India too.

Such destructive mind cannot resist Britishers or create with confidence their own currency.

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