Which currency for India?

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Alan O
Posts: 130
Joined: 23 Sep 2016, 4:51pm
Location: Liverpool

Re: Which currency for India?

Post by Alan O »

Bmblbzzz wrote:IIRC India has coins down to 2 rupees. Items are priced to 1r.

According to Wikipedia, coins down to 50 paise (half a rupee) are current...
"Coins commonly in circulation are one, two, five and ten rupees. Although it is still legal tender, the 50-paise (athanni) coin is rarely seen in circulation."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_rupee
Last edited by Alan O on 22 Jun 2018, 10:20am, edited 1 time in total.
nirakaro
Posts: 1578
Joined: 22 Dec 2007, 2:01am

Re: Which currency for India?

Post by nirakaro »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Was/is that legal?

Definitely not, but everyone did it. They liberalised their foreign exchange rules, IIRC, in the mid-nineties, and since then the black market has virtually disappeared.
Bmblbzzz
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Location: From here to there.

Re: Which currency for India?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Alan O wrote:
Bmblbzzz wrote:IIRC India has coins down to 2 rupees. Items are priced to 1r.

According to Wikipedia, coins down to 50 paise (half a rupee) are current...
"Coins commonly in circulation are one, two, five and ten rupees. Although it is still legal tender, the 50-paise (athanni) coin is rarely seen in circulation."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_rupee

The 50 paise coin is certainly legal tender but you're extremely unlikely to see one.
Alan O
Posts: 130
Joined: 23 Sep 2016, 4:51pm
Location: Liverpool

Re: Which currency for India?

Post by Alan O »

nirakaro wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:Was/is that legal?

Definitely not, but everyone did it. They liberalised their foreign exchange rules, IIRC, in the mid-nineties, and since then the black market has virtually disappeared.

They didn't go out of their way to make things easier for doing it the legal way back then. In 1991, I tried to change money in a bank at a town where I'd made a brief overnight stay, and I really wanted to be on my way (I can't remember exactly where it was), but they had technical problems with their bank communications network and couldn't get the day's exchange rates. Even though the rates were published in that day's national newspapers, the rules said they had to wait until they got the official rate via the official channel. I was short of rupees and really had no option but to wait... for four hours, and then got exactly the same rate as the previous day.

But in the scheme of things, in slow and relaxed India, it was nothing really... and all part of my (very rewarding) cultural experience. India helped teach me the pointlessness of rushing around and the value of time.

</nostalgia>
Alan
Cyril Haearn
Posts: 15215
Joined: 30 Nov 2013, 11:26am

Re: Which currency for India?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Alan O wrote:
nirakaro wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:Was/is that legal?

Definitely not, but everyone did it. They liberalised their foreign exchange rules, IIRC, in the mid-nineties, and since then the black market has virtually disappeared.

They didn't go out of their way to make things easier for doing it the legal way back then. In 1991, I tried to change money in a bank at a town where I'd made a brief overnight stay, and I really wanted to be on my way (I can't remember exactly where it was), but they had technical problems with their bank communications network and couldn't get the day's exchange rates. Even though the rates were published in that day's national newspapers, the rules said they had to wait until they got the official rate via the official channel. I was short of rupees and really had no option but to wait... for four hours, and then got exactly the same rate as the previous day.

But in the scheme of things, in slow and relaxed India, it was nothing really... and all part of my (very rewarding) cultural experience. India helped teach me the pointlessness of rushing around and the value of time.

</nostalgia>
Alan

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