Rupee, who are you !?

The History of the Rupee

The official currency of the Indian Republic is called the rupee (INR) and the coins are called the paise. One Indian rupee is made up of 100 paise. Paper money comes in allotments of Rs.5, Rs.10, Rs.20, Rs.50, Rs.100, Rs.500 and Rs.1000. Coins come in allotments of 10 paise, 20 paise, 25 paise, 50 paise, one rupee, two rupees and five rupees. 

So how old is the Indian rupee? The Indian rupee history goes back to the 15^th century when Sher Shah Suri (1486–1545), the founder of the Sur Empire in North India, introduced the first rupee. The word “rupee” derived from Sanskrit rūpya "shaped; stamped, impressed; coin" and also from the Sanskrit word "rupa" meaning silver.

The United Kingdom, whose colony was India, was trying by force to put into circulation the pound; however these attempts were not a success. In that period the rupee was spread in other colonies of the UK: Kenya, Qatar, Uganda, Bahrain, etc.. After the recognition of independence of India in 1947, the rupee became the official currency of the Indian republic.

On the front side of the banknote features a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi.

The Indian rupee has its special symbol. It is a blend of ‘Ra’ in Devanagri script and ‘R’ in Roman. It has two parallel lines crossing this ‘Ra’ or ‘R’ which shows that the symbol “is equal to” one Indian rupee. If you look more closely at the symbol, you can notice the robustness of the Indian economy.

Rupee in Forex Currently the Indian rupee is widely traded in Indian Forex market. The rate of the currency pair INR / USD is controlled and managed by the Reserve Bank of India, while other pairs INR / EUR and INR / JPY are volatile and are in a free-floating. At present IFC Markets does not provide INR as a trading instrument. But in the nearest future INR will be included in the list of currencies traded in IFC Markets.