| Indian Rupee | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| रुपया (Hindi) | |||
|
|
|||
| ISO 4217 code | INR | ||
| Official user(s) | India | ||
| Unofficial user(s) | Bhutan (alongside the Bhutanese ngultrum) Nepal (alongside the Nepalese rupee) |
||
| Inflation | 9.11%, November 2011 | ||
| Source | eaindustry.nic.in | ||
| Method | WPI | ||
| Pegged by | Bhutanese ngultrum (at par) Nepalese rupee (1 INR = 1.6 NPR) |
||
| Subunit | |||
| 1/100 | Paisa | ||
| Symbol | |||
| Paisa | p | ||
| Formerly used symbols | ₨, Rs, ৳, ૱, ௹, रु | ||
| Nickname | Rupayya, Rūbāi | ||
| Coins | 50 paise, 1, 2, 5, 10 | ||
| Central bank | Reserve Bank of India | ||
| Website | www.rbi.org.in | ||
| Printer | Reserve Bank of India | ||
| Website | www.rbi.org.in | ||
| Mint | India Government Mint | ||
| Website | www.spmcil.com | ||
The Indian rupee (Devanagari: रुपया) (sign: ; code: INR) is the official currency of the Republic of India. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India.[1]
The modern rupee is subdivided into 100 paise (singular paisa) though this division is now theoretical; as of 30 June 2011, coin denominations of less than 50 paise ceased to be legal tender.[2][3] Bank notes are available in nominal values of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 rupees. Coins of the rupee are available in 1, 2, 5 and 10. Paise coins of the rupee have nominal values of 50, and lower denominations have been officially withdrawn.
The Indian rupee symbol (officially adopted 2010) is derived from the Devanagari consonant "र" (Ra) with an added horizontal bar. The symbol can also be derived from the Latin consonant "R" by removing the vertical line, and adding two horizontal bars (like the symbols for the Japanese Yen and the Euro). The first series of coins with the rupee symbol was launched on 8 July 2011.
Contents |
However, in Assam Valley, West Bengal, Tripura, Mizoram and Orissa, the Indian rupee is officially known by names derived from the word टङ्क (Tanka) which means money.[4] Thus, the rupee is called টকা (tôka) in Assamese, টাকা (Taka) in Bengali and ଟଙ୍କା (Tanka) in Oriya. The amount and the word "rupee" is accordingly written on Indian banknotes in 15 Indian languages.[5]
On 5 March 2009, the Government of India announced a contest to create a sign for the Indian rupee.[6][7] During the 2010 Union Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee mentioned that the proposed sign would reflect and capture the Indian ethos and culture.[8] Five signs created by Nondita Correa-Mehrotra, Hitesh Padmashali, Shibin KK, Shahrukh J Irani, and D Udaya Kumar[9][10] had been short-listed[10] from around 3331 responses received and one of them was to be finalized at the Union Council of Ministers of India meeting held on 24 June 2010.[11] The decision was deferred by a request of the Finance Minister,[8] and it was decided when they met again on 15 July 2010,[12] and selected the symbol created by D. Udaya Kumar son of N. Dharmalingam, a former DMK MLA.[13]
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.[14]
On 26 November 2010, the Delhi High single bench Court dismissed the writ petition, stating there was no justifiable ground for the stated allegations.[15] But on March 31, 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.[16]
Although based on the decimal system is unlike western cultures; after a thousand the next major figure is not a million (thousand x thousand) but a lakh (hundred x thousand) or 1,00,000; after this the next is not a billion (thousand x thousand x thousand)[going by American English definition], but a crore (hundred x hundred x thousand) or 1,00,00,000 in numerical form. Therefore in Indian English, values greater than or equal to hundred thousand Indian rupees are spoken of, written and counted in terms of lakhs (one lakh = hundred thousand), and crores (one crore = ten million).
For example, the amount 3,25,84,729.25 is read as three crore(s), twenty-five lakh(s), eighty-four thousand, seven hundred and twenty-nine rupees and twenty-five paise. The use of million or billion, as is standard in American or British English, is not common and sometimes cause confusion to the ill informed and can lead to mis-translations and consequential problems.
The first "rupee" is believed to have been introduced by Sher Shah Suri (1486–1545), based on a ratio of 40 copper pieces (paisa) per rupee.[17] Among the earliest issues of paper rupees were those by the Bank of Hindustan (1770–1832), the Generalarren Hastings) and the Bengal Bank (1784–91), amongst others. Until 1815, the Madras Presidency also issued a currency based on the panam, with 12 panams equal to the rupee.
Historically, the rupee, derived from the Sanskrit word raupya, which means silver, was a silver coin. This 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 U.S. 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 event was known as "the fall of the rupee".
India was not affected by the imperial order-in-council of 1825 that attempted to introduce the British sterling coinage to the British colonies. British India at that time was controlled by the British East India Company. The silver rupee continued as the currency of India throughout the entire period of the British Raj and beyond. In 1835, British India set itself firmly upon a mono-metallic silver standard based on the rupee. His decision was influenced by a letter, written in the year 1805, by Lord Liverpool that extolled the virtues of mono-metallism.
Following the Indian Mutiny in 1857, the British government took direct control of British India. Since 1851, gold sovereigns were being produced in large numbers at the Royal Mint branch in Sydney, New South Wales. In the year 1864 in an attempt to make the British gold sovereign become the 'imperial coin', the treasuries in Bombay and Calcutta were instructed to receive gold sovereigns. These gold sovereigns however never left the vaults. As was realized in the previous decade in Canada and the next year in Hong Kong, existing habits are hard to replace. Just as the British government had finally given up any hopes of replacing the rupee in India with the pound sterling, it simultaneously realized, and for the same reasons, that they could not easily replace the silver dollar in the Straits Settlements with the Indian rupee, as had been the desire of the British East India Company.
Since the great silver crisis of 1873, a growing number of nations had been adopting the gold standard, however the Indian currency system maintained its silver-standard tradition, which remained until it was replaced by a basket of commodities and currencies in the late twentieth century.
The Indian rupee replaced the Danish Indian rupee in 1845, the French Indian rupee in 1954 and the Portuguese Indian escudo in 1961. Following independence in 1947, the Indian rupee replaced all the currencies of the previously autonomous states. Some of these states had issued rupees equal to those issued by the British (such as the Travancore rupee). Other currencies included the Hyderabad rupee and the Kutch kori. Nominal value during British rule, and the first decade of independence:
In 1957, decimalisation occurred and the rupee was divided into 100 naye paise (Hindi for "new paise"). In 1964, the initial "naye" was dropped. Many still refer to 25, 50 and 75 paise as 4, 8 and 12 annas respectively, not unlike the usage of "bit" in American English for ⅛ dollar.
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'.
The Straits Settlements were originally an outlier 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 nineteenth 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.
With Partition, the Pakistani rupee came into existence, initially using Indian coins and Indian currency notes simply overstamped with "Pakistan". In previous times, the Indian rupee was an official currency of other countries, including Aden, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the Trucial States, Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda, the Seychelles, and Mauritius.
The Indian government introduced the Gulf rupee, also known as the Persian Gulf rupee (XPGR), as a replacement for the Indian rupee for circulation exclusively outside the country with the Reserve Bank of India [Amendment] Act, 1 May 1959. This creation of a separate currency was an attempt to reduce the strain put on India's foreign reserves by gold smuggling. After India devalued the rupee on 6 June 1966, those countries still using it – Oman, Qatar, and the Trucial States (which became the United Arab Emirates in 1971) – replaced the Gulf rupee with their own currencies. Kuwait and Bahrain had already done so in 1961 and 1965 respectively.
The Bhutanese ngultrum is pegged at par with the Indian rupee, and both currencies are accepted in Bhutan. The Indian rupee is also accepted in Nepal. However, Indian Rupee denominations of 500 and 1000 are banned in Nepal. Rupee is the currency of Sri Lanka also.
The three Presidencies established by the British East India Company (Bengal, Bombay and Madras) each issued their own coinages up to 1835. All three issued rupees together with fractions down to ⅛ and 1⁄16 rupee in silver. Madras also issued 2 rupees coins.
Copper denominations were more varied. Bengal issued 1 pie, ½, 1 and 2 paise. Bombay issued 1 pie, ¼, ½, 1, 1½, 2 and 4 paise. In Madras, there were copper coins for 2, 4 pies, 1, 2 and 4 paisa, with the first two denominated as ½ and 1 dub or 1⁄96 and 1⁄48 rupee. Note that Madras also issued the Madras fanam until 1815.
All three Presidencies issued gold mohurs and fractions of mohurs, including 1⁄16, ⅛, ¼ and ½ in Bengal, 1⁄15 (a gold rupee) and ⅓ (pancia) in Bombay and ¼, ⅓ and ½ in Madras.
In 1835, a single coinage for the EIC was introduced. It consisted of copper 1⁄12, ¼ and ½ anna, silver ¼, ½ and 1 rupee and gold 1 and 2 mohurs. In 1841, silver 2 annas were added, followed by copper ½ pice in 1853. The coinage of the EIC continued to be issued until 1862, even after the Company had been taken over by the Crown.
In 1862, coins were introduced which are referred to as Regal issues. They bore the portrait of Queen Victoria and the designation "India". Denominations were 1⁄12 anna, ½ pice, ¼ and ½ anna (all in copper), 2 annas, ¼, ½ and 1 rupee (silver) and 5 and 10 rupees and 1 mohur (gold). The gold denominations ceased production in 1891 while no ½ anna coins were issued dated later than 1877.
In 1906, bronze replaced copper for the lowest three denominations and in 1907, a cupro-nickel 1 anna was introduced. In 1918 and 1919, cupro-nickel 2, 4 and 8 annas were introduced, although the 4 and 8 annas coins were only issued until 1921 and did not replace their silver equivalents. Also in 1918, the Bombay mint struck gold sovereigns and 15 rupee coins identical in size to the sovereigns as an emergency measure due to the First World War.
In the early 1940s, several changes were implemented. The 1⁄12 anna and ½ pice ceased production, the ¼ anna was changed to a bronze, holed coin, cupro-nickel and nickel-brass ½ anna coins were introduced, nickel-brass was used to produce some 1 and 2 annas coins, and the composition of the silver coins was reduced from 91.7% to 50%. The last of the regal issues were cupro-nickel ¼, ½ and 1 rupee pieces minted in 1946 and 1947.
India's first coins after independence were issued in 1950. They were 1 pice, ½, 1 and 2 annas, ¼, ½ and 1 rupee denominations. The sizes and compositions were the same as the final Regal issues, except for the 1 pice, which was bronze but not holed.
The first decimal issues of India consisted of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25 & 50 naye paise, as well as 1 rupee. The 1 naya paisa was bronze, the 2, 5 & 10 naye paise were cupro-nickel & the 25 & 50 naye paise & 1 rupee were nickel. In 1964, the word naya(e) was removed from all the coins. Between 1964 & 1967, aluminum 1, 2, 3, 5 & 10 paise were introduced. In 1968, nickel-brass 20 paise were introduced, replaced by aluminum coins in 1982. Between 1972 & 1975, cupro-nickel replaced nickel in the 25 & 50 paise as well as the 1 rupee. In 1982, cupro-nickel 2 rupees coins were introduced. In 1988, stainless steel 10, 25 & 50 paise were introduced, followed by 1 & 5 rupee coins in 1992. Recently 5 Rupee coins made from Brass are being minted by RBI
Between 2005 & 2008, new, lighter 50 paise, 1, 2 & 5 rupee coins were introduced, all struck in ferritic stainless steel. The move was prompted by the melting down of older coins whose face value was less than their scrap value.
The coins commonly in circulation are 1, 2, 5 & 10 rupees. Although they remain valid, paise coins have become increasingly rare in regular usage.
The Indian Government has decided to phase out all paise coins.
| Circulating Coins [18] | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Value | Technical parameters | Description | Year of | ||||||
| Obverse | Reverse | Diameter | Mass | Composition | Shape | Obverse | Reverse | first minting | last minting | |
| 5 paise | 22 mm (diagonal) | 1.5 g | Aluminium | Diamond with curved edges | Emblem of India | Value | 1957 | |||
| style="text-align:center; | style="text-align:center; | 10 paise | 16 mm | 2 g | Ferritic stainless steel | Circular | Emblem of India | Value | 1961 | |
| 20 paise | 26 mm | 2 g | Aluminium | Hexagon | Emblem of India | Value | 1982 | |||
| 25 paise | 19 mm | 2.83 g | Ferritic stainless steel | Circular | Emblem of India, value | Rhinoceros | 1988 | |||
| 50 paise | 22 mm | 3.79 g | Ferritic stainless steel | Circular | Emblem of India | Value, Map of India and A hand showing a fist | 1988 | |||
| 1 | 25 mm | 4.85 g | Ferritic stainless steel | Circular | Emblem of India, value | Value, Two stalks of wheat | 1992 | |||
| 1 | 25 mm | 4.85 g | Ferritic stainless steel | Circular | Emblem of India | Value, Hand showing thumb | 2007 | |||
| 2 | 26 mm | 6 g | Cupro-Nickel | Eleven Sided | Emblem of India, Value | National Integration | 1982 | |||
| 2 | 27 mm | 5.62 g | Ferritic stainless steel | Circular | Emblem of India | Value, Hand showing 2 fingers | 2007 | |||
| 5 | 23 mm | 9 g | Cupro-Nickel | Circular | Emblem of India | Value | 1992 | |||
| 5 | 23 mm | 6 g | Ferritic stainless steel | Circular | Emblem of India | Value, wavy lines | 2007 | |||
| 5 | 23 mm | 6 g | Brass | Circular | Emblem of India | Value, wavy lines | 2009 | |||
| 10 | 28 mm | 8 g | Bimetallic | Circular | Emblem of India with value | Value, wavy lines | 2006 | |||
| For table standards, see the coin specification table. | ||||||||||
The coins are minted at the four locations of the India Government Mint. Note the 1, 2 & 5 rupee coins have been minted since independence. Coins minted with the "Hand Picture" are 2005 onwards.
After independence, RBI minted coins having imprint of Indian statesman, historical and religious figures.
The design of banknotes is approved by the Central Government on the recommendations of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India.[1] Currency notes are printed at the Currency Note Press, Nashik, Bank Note Press, Dewas, Bharatiya Note Mudra Nigam (P) Limited presses at Salboni and Mysore and at the Watermark Paper Manufacturing Mill, Hoshangabad.
The current series of banknotes, which began in 1996, is called the Mahatma Gandhi series. At present, banknotes are issued in the denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000. Printing of 5 notes which had stopped earlier restarted in 2009. ATMs usually give out 100, 500, and 1000 notes. The Zero rupee note is not an official government issue but a symbol of protest and it is printed and distributed by an NGO in India.
In 1861, the Government of India introduced its first paper money, 10 rupee in 1864, 5 rupees in 1872, 10,000 rupees in 1899, 100 rupees in 1900, 50 rupees in 1905, 500 rupees in 1907 and 1000 rupees in 1909. In 1917, 1 and 2½ rupees notes were introduced. The Reserve Bank of India began note production in 1938, issuing 2, 5, 10, 50, 100, 1000 and 10000 rupee notes, while the Government continued to issue 1 rupee notes.
After independence, new designs were introduced to remove the portrait of the King. The government continued to issue the 1 rupee note, while the Reserve Bank issued other denominations, including the 5000 and 10,000 rupee notes introduced in 1949. In the 1970s, 20 and 50 rupee notes were introduced but denominations higher than 100 rupees were demonetized in 1978. In 1987, the 500 rupee note was introduced, followed by the 1000 rupees in 2000. 1 Rupee and 2 rupees notes were discontinued in 1995. 5 Rupees note will be discontinued shortly. Conisation of notes till Rs. 20 is being planned.
In September 2009, the Reserve Bank of India decided to introduce polymer notes (polymer banknote) on a trial basis. Initially, 100 crore (1 billion) pieces of 10 denomination notes will be introduced.[19] According to the Reserve Bank officials, the polymer notes will have an average lifespan of 5 years (4 times the regular Indian bank notes) and will be difficult to counterfeit. They would also be cleaner than the regular notes.
The Mahatma Gandhi Series of banknotes are issued by the Reserve Bank of India as the legal tender of Indian Rupee. As the name suggests, the series is so called because the observe of the banknotes prominently display the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. Since its introduction in 1996, this series has replaced all issued banknotes.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced the series in 1996 with the 10 and 500 banknotes. At present, the RBI issues banknotes denominations from 5 to 1000. Printing of 5 notes which had stopped earlier restarted in 2009. ATMs usually dispense 100, 500, and 1000 notes.
| Mahatma Gandhi Series [20] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Value |
Dimensions | Main Color | Description | Year of issue | |||
| Obverse | Reverse | Obverse | Reverse | Watermark | ||||
| Image | Image | 5 | 117 × 63 mm | Green | Mahatma Gandhi | Tractor | Mahatma Gandhi | 2002 / 2009 |
| Image | Image | 10 | 137 × 63 mm | Orange-violet | Rhinoceros, elephant, tiger | 1996 / 2006 | ||
| Image | Image | 20 | 147 × 63 mm | Red-orange | Coconut trees, Kovalam | 2002 / 2006 | ||
| Image | Image | 50 | 147 × 73 mm | Violet | Parliament of India | 1997 / 2005 | ||
| Image | Image | 100 | 157 × 73 mm | Blue-green at centre, brown-purple at 2 sides | Himalaya Mountains | 1996 / 2005 | ||
| Image | Image | 500 | 167 × 73 mm | Olive and yellow | Dandi March (Gyarah Murti statue) | 2000 / 2005 | ||
| Image | Image | 1000 | 177 × 73 mm | Amber-Red | Economy of India | 2000 / 2011 | ||
| These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table. | ||||||||
Each banknote has its amount written in 15 languages. On the obverse side, the denomination is written in English and Hindi. On the reverse of each note is a language panel that displays the denomination of the note in 15 of the 22 official languages of India. The languages are displayed in the alphabetical order. The languages included on the panel are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
| Language | 1 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 50 | 100 | 500 | 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | One Rupee | Two Rupees | Five Rupees | Ten Rupees | Twenty Rupees | Fifty Rupees | Hundred Rupees | Five Hundred Rupees | One Thousand Rupees | |
| Gujarati | એક રૂપિયો | બે રૂપિયા | પાંચ રૂપિયા | દસ રૂપિયા | વીસ રૂપિયા | પચાસ રૂપિયા | સો રૂપિયા | પાંચ સો રૂપિયા | એક હજાર રૂપિયા | |
| Hindi | एक रुपया | दो रुपये | पाँच रुपये | दस रुपये | बीस रुपये | पचास रुपये | एक सौ रुपये | पांच सौ रुपये | एक हज़ार रुपये | |
| Nepali | एक रुपियाँ | दुई रुपियाँ | पाँच रुपियाँ | दश रुपियाँ | बीस रुपियाँ | पचास रुपियाँ | एक सय रुपियाँ | पाँच सय रुपियाँ | एक हज़ार रुपियाँ | |
| Kannada | ಒಂದು ರುಪಾಯಿ | ಎರಡು ರೂಪಾಯಿ | ಐದು ರೂಪಾಯಿ | ಹತ್ತು ರೂಪಾಯಿ | ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತು ರೂಪಾಯಿ | ಐವತ್ತು ರೂಪಾಯಿ | ನೂರು ರೂಪಾಯಿ | ಐನೂರು ರೂಪಾಯಿ | ಒಂದು ಸಾವಿರ ರೂಪಾಯಿ | |
| Malayalam | ഒരു രൂപ | രണ്ടു രൂപ | അഞ്ചു രൂപ | പത്തു രുപ | ഇരുപതു രൂപ | അൻപതു രൂപ | നൂറു രൂപ | അഞ്ഞൂറു രൂപ | ആയിരം രൂപ | |
| Marathi | एक रुपया | दोन रुपये | पाच रुपये | दहा रुपये | वीस रुपये | पन्नास रुपये | शंभर रुपये | पाचशे रुपये | एक हजार रुपये | |
| Sanskrit | एकरूप्यकम् | द्वे रूप्यके | पञ्चरूप्यकाणि | दशरूप्यकाणि | विंशती रूप्यकाणि | पञ्चाशत रूप्यकाणि | शतं रूप्यकाणि | पञ्चशतं रूप्यकाणि | सहस्र रूप्यकाणि | |
| Bengali | এক টাকা | দুই টাকা | পাঁচ টাকা | দশ টাকা | কুড়ি টাকা | পঞ্চাশ টাকা | শত টাকা | পাঁচশত টাকা | এক হাজার টাকা | |
| Tamil | ஒரு ரூபாய் | இரண்டு ரூபாய் | ஐந்து ரூபாய் | பத்து ரூபாய் | இருபது ரூபாய் | ஐம்பது ரூபாய் | நூறு ரூபாய் | ஐந்நூறு ரூபாய் | ஆயிரம் ரூபாய் | |
| Telugu | ఒక రూపాయి | రెండు రూపాయిలు | ఐదు రూపాయిలు | పది రూపాయిలు | ఇరవై రూపాయిలు | యాభై రూపాయిలు | వంద రూపాయిలు | ఐదువందల రూపాయిలు | వెయ్యి రూపాయిలు |
The main security features of the current banknotes are listed below:
| Rank | Currency | ISO 4217 code (Symbol) |
% daily share (April 2010) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
United States dollar |
USD ($)
|
84.9% |
|
2
|
Euro |
EUR (€)
|
39.1% |
|
3
|
Japanese yen |
JPY (¥)
|
19.0% |
|
4
|
Pound sterling |
GBP (£)
|
12.9% |
|
5
|
Australian dollar |
AUD ($)
|
7.6% |
|
6
|
Swiss franc |
CHF (Fr)
|
6.4% |
|
7
|
Canadian dollar |
CAD ($)
|
5.3% |
|
8
|
Hong Kong dollar |
HKD ($)
|
2.4% |
|
9
|
Swedish krona |
SEK (kr)
|
2.2% |
|
10
|
New Zealand dollar |
NZD ($)
|
1.6% |
|
11
|
South Korean won |
KRW (₩)
|
1.5% |
|
12
|
Singapore dollar |
SGD ($)
|
1.4% |
|
13
|
Norwegian krone |
NOK (kr)
|
1.3% |
|
14
|
Mexican peso |
MXN ($)
|
1.3% |
|
15
|
Indian rupee |
INR ()
|
0.9% |
| Other | 12.2% | ||
| Total[22] | 200% | ||
Officially, the Indian rupee has a market determined exchange rate. However, the RBI trades actively in the USD/INR currency market to impact effective exchange rates. Thus, the currency regime in place for the Indian rupee with respect to the US dollar is a de facto controlled exchange rate. This is sometimes called a "managed float". Other rates such as the EUR/INR and INR/JPY have volatilities that are typical of floating exchange rates.[23] It should be noted, however, that unlike China, successive administrations (through RBI, the central bank) have not followed a policy of pegging the INR to a specific foreign currency at a particular exchange rate. RBI intervention in currency markets is solely to deliver low volatility in the exchange rates, and not to take a view on the rate or direction of the Indian rupee in relation to other currencies.[24]
Also affecting convertibility is a series of customs regulations restricting the import and export of rupees. Legally, foreign nationals are forbidden from importing or exporting rupees, while Indian nationals can import and export only up to 7500 rupees at a time, and the possession of 500 and 1000 rupee notes in Nepal is prohibited.
RBI also exercises a system of capital controls in addition to the intervention (through active trading) in the currency markets. On the current account, there are no currency conversion restrictions hindering buying or selling foreign exchange (though trade barriers do exist). On the capital account, foreign institutional investors have convertibility to bring money in and out of the country and buy securities (subject to certain quantitative restrictions). Local firms are able to take capital out of the country in order to expand globally. But local households are restricted in their ability to do global diversification. However, owing to an enormous expansion of the current account and the capital account, India is increasingly moving towards de facto full convertibility.
There is some confusion regarding the interchange of the currency with gold, but the system that India follows is that money cannot be exchanged for gold, in any circumstances or any situation. Money cannot be changed into gold by the RBI. This is because it will become difficult to handle it. India follows the same principle as Great Britain and America.
| currency | code | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2006 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. dollar | USD | 35.444 | 44.952 | 45.340 | 43.954 | 48.76112 | 45.3354 | 53.553 | |||||||||||
| Canadian dollar | CAD | 26.002 | 30.283 | 34.914 | 41.098 | 42.92026 | 44.5915 | 52.1706 | |||||||||||
| Euro* | EUR | 44.401 | 41.525 | 56.385 | 64.127 | 68.03312 | 60.5973 | 65.6987 | |||||||||||
| Pound sterling | GBP | 55.389 | 68.119 | 83.084 | 80.633 | 76.38023 | 71.3313 | 83.6329 | |||||||||||
| Swiss franc | CHF | 28.714 | 26.654 | 36.537 | 40.451 | 45.05846 | 45.9957 | 57.3525 | |||||||||||
| Australian dollar | AUD | 27.761 | 26.157 | 33.409 | 36.972 | 38.58082 | 43.9854 | 53.9759 | |||||||||||
| Japanese yen | JPY | 0.5555 | 0.41711 | 0.41945 | 0.42627 | 0.52239 | 0.545447 | 0.6907 | |||||||||||
| Singapore dollar | SGD | 25.160 | 26.079 | 26.830 | 30.932 | 33.60388 | 34.5127 | 41.2737 | |||||||||||
| *before Jan 1, 1999, European Currency Unit, code XEU | |||||||||||||||||||
| Current INR exchange rates | |
|---|---|
| From Google Finance: | AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD |
| From Yahoo! Finance: | AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD |
| From OzForex: | AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD |
| From XE.com: | AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD |
| From OANDA.com: | AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD |
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||