A Brief History of India's Republic Coinage

India won its independence on the 15th of August, 1947. During the period of transition India retained the monetary system and the currency and coinage of the earlier period under British Sovereignty. While Pakistan introduced a new series of coins in 1948 and notes in 1949, India brought out its distinctive coins on August 15, 1950.
Republic of India Issues could broadly be categorized as:

The Frozen Series 1947-1950


This represented the currency arrangements during the transition period up to the establishment of the Indian Republic. The Monetary System remained unchanged at One Rupee consisting of 192 pies.
1 Rupee = 16 Annas
1 Anna = 4 Pice
1 Pice = 3 Pies 


The Anna Series 

This series was introduced on the 15th of August, 1950 and represented the first coinage of the Republic of India. The King of England's Portrait was replaced by the Lion Capital of the Ashoka Pillar. A corn sheaf replaced the Tiger on the one Rupee coin. In some ways this symbolized a shift in focus to progress and prosperity. Indian motifs were incorporated on other coins. The monetary system was largely retained unchanged with one Rupee consisting of 16 Annas.

The Decimal Series

The demand for decimalization existed for over a century. Sri Lanka decimalized its rupee in 1869. However, it was in September, 1955 that the Indian Coinage Act was amended for the country to adopt a metric system for coinage. The Act came into force with effective April 1, 1957. The rupee remained unchanged in value and nomenclature. The rupee, however, was now divided into 100 'Paisa' instead of 16 Annas or 64 Pice. For public recognition, the new decimal Paisa was termed 'Naya Paisa' on coins until June 1, 1964 when the term 'Naya' was dropped. Naya being a Hindi word meaning "New." The coins of that period also mentioned their value in terms of the rupee to avoid confusion and deception. For example, the one paisa coin carried the text "One hundredth of a Rupee" in Hindi.

Naya Paisa Series 1957-1964

With commodity prices rising in the sixties, small denomination coins which were made of bronze, nickel-brass, cupro-nickel, and Aluminum-Bronze were gradually minted in Aluminum. This change commenced with the introduction of the new hexagonal 3 paise coin. A twenty paise coin was introduced in 1968 but did not gain much popularity.

Aluminium Series 1964 to Current

In the 1970s the one, two and three paise coins were phased out; Stainless steel coinage of 10, 25 and 50 paise, was introduced in 1988 along with a one rupee coin in 1992. As costs of printing the banknote issues of Re 1, Rs 2, and Rs 5 led to the gradual conversion to coins of these denominations.

Contemporary Coins

Controversy over  two-rupee cross coin

The two-rupee coin issued from 2006 by the Reserve Bank, in stark contrast to the earlier coin, is rounded and simpler in design, without the map of India. The coin has already been criticized for being difficult to recognize by the visually impaired. Most controversially, it features an equal-armed cross with the beams divided into two rays and with dots between adjacent beams, which the RBI claims to be "four heads sharing a common body" under a new "unity in diversity" theme. However there is no history in India of a cross of this nature or any other cross being used to represent this theme. Outraged Indian commentators, bloggers and Hindu nationalists have charged that the symbol is a Christian cross, pointing out its strong resemblance (equal-armed cross and dots) to the symbol on the deniers issued by Louis the Pious.

Commemorative Coins 


Commemorative coins are coins that were issued to commemorate some particular event or issue. The first Indian commemorative coin was issued in 1964 to mourn the death of Jawaharlal Nehru. Such coins have a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued.
Commemorative Indian Coins are very interesting to discuss because they cover many topics like Indian Independence Struggle, War, Peace, Wildlife, Vegetation, Great Personalties, Various Events and Organisations. Denomination from 5 paise to 150 rupees.

Bimetallic coins


Indian rupees 10 bimetallic coins is the country first ever bimetallic coin ever released.  The 10 Rupee coin was designed by National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad with the theme of Unity in Diversity. The coins are being prepared at Noida and Mumbai mints.

New sign of  Rupee coin series


New series of coins is released with improved design and revised size in the denominations of 50 paise, Re.1, Rs.2, Rs.5, and Rs.10. The new coins are of user-friendly size and weight, with improved counterfeit resistance, and the security edging of these coins would be good for better recognition by visually challenged persons. The present series of coins of 50 paise, Rs.1, 2, and 5 contain a flowery design and for Rs.10, the number of petals have been brought down to 10 in place of the existing 15 petals.  The parallel lines on the obverse side of the Rs.10 coin have been removed and the size of Ashok Pillar has been increased.

ESTABLISHMENT OF MINTS IN INDIA

EAST INDIA COMPANY set up the following three mints in the 17th and 18th century:-

(a) MADRAS MINT in 1640 A.D.

(b) BOMBAY MINT in 1671 A.D.

(c) CALCUTTA MINT in 1759 A.D.

These mints were again reset up as bigger one and with the latest technology, at Bombay & Calcutta in 1829 A.D. However Madras Mint was closed in1869.

(i) Before1947, i.e. pre-partition of India. There were four mints, namely at Bombay, Calcutta, Lahore and Madras.

 

(ii) After 1947, i.e. Post partition of India. There are four mints, namely Bombay, Calcutta, Hyderabad and Noida. 

There are four mints in India each with a long & distinguished history that produce coins which serve our everyday needs, The two oldest are Alipore (Calcutta)and Bombay mints, both were Established in 1829 by the British Government, though the former was originally located in Calcutta and moved to its present site in 1952. The Hyderabad mint was established in 1903 by the Government of the erstwhile Nizam of Hyderabad and was taken over by the Government of India in 1950 & started minting since 1953. Noida mint was set up in 1986 and started minting ferritic stainless steel coins from 1988.

MINT MARKS ON COINS 

Indian coins since 1835-2007 have the following Mint Marks which are found under the date (year of issue) of the coin. Indian coins bear the distinctive marks of these mints but some coins were minted abroad and imported in 1857-58, 1943, 1985, 1997-2002 and these bear the mint marks of their origin. These coins are imported with the approval of Reserve Bank of India.

 Indian Mint Marks on Coins

(a) BOMBAY MINT (Mumbai)-The Bombay Mint has a small dot or diamond mint markunder Date of the Coin.

 

 

(b) CALCUTTA MINT (Kolkata)-The Calcutta Mint has No Mint Markbeneath the date of coin or an C incuseis seen at 6'o clock position in british india coins.    

(c) HYDERABAD MINT-The Hyderabad Mint has split diamond or a dot in diamond or five pointed STARUnder the date of coin.

Also found as :

Split diamond below date

Dot in diamond

Star below date

(d) LAHORE MINT- The Lahore Mint has a letter "L"mint mark under the date of the coin.Production started on 5th October 1943 A.D.

(e) NOIDA MINT- The Noida Mint has a small or thick dotunder the date of the Coin. Production Started in 1988.

Foreign Mint Marks on Indian Coins 

The government of India issued many coins minted by foreign mints during times of shortage of coins. Some coins were minted abroad and imported in 1857-58, 1943, 1985, 1997-2002 and these bear the mint marks of their origin. These coins are imported with the approval of Reserve Bank of India. All the coins minted in foreign mints are shown below:

(a) PRETORIA MINT  (SOUTH AFRICA MINT Co. pvt ltd) - The Pretoria Mint  has  “M” under date in 1998 two rupee coin.

(b–1) SEOUL MINT (SOUTH KOREA) -The Seoul mint has a “Five Pointed Star"under the date of the coin but exactly below the first or Last Digits of dates 1985 and 1997.

 (b -2 ) TAEGU MINT(KOREA)-  The Taegu mint has a “Five Pointed Star“under the date of the coin but  exactly below the first Digits of dates 1985 

(c) ROYAL MINT LONDON(Birmingham )  The  Mint has a small dot(Diamond) under the date of the coin but exactly below the First Digit of Date 1985

(d) HEATON PRESS MINT- This Mint has Ornamental/ Decorated Letter "H"under the last digit of the date 1985.

(e) ROYAL CANADIAN MINT, OTTAWA-This Ottawa Mint has a "C"mint mark under the date of the coin. 

(f) MEXICO MINT (OESCHGER MASDACH & Co.)-The Mexico City Mint has an mint mark of “M” beneath “O” under the date of the coin.

(g) MOSCOW MIN , Russia – This mint has a mint mark of “MMD” in oval below the date of the coin.eg 2 rupee & 5 rupee(2000 A.D) 

(h) SLOVAKIA KREMNCA MINT (SLOVAKIA REPUBLIC): Has mint mark of “MK in circle” below the date of the coin on rupee 1998-2000.

(i) TOWER MINT, UK ( DOMINICAN REPUBLIC):  “U” Shape sign below date