The Indian 1-rupee coin (₹1) is an Indian coin worth one

Indian rupee The Indian rupee ( symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 ''paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use wh ...

and is made up of a hundred

paisa Paisa (also transliterated as ''pice'', ''pesa'', ''poysha'', ''poisha'' and ''baisa'') is a monetary unit in several countries. The word is also a generalised idiom for money and wealth. In India, Nepal, and Pakistan, the ''Paisa'' currently equa ...

s. Currently, one rupee coin is the smallest Indian coin in circulation. Since 1992, one Indian rupee coins are minted from

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

. Round in shape, the one rupee coins weighs , has a diameter of and thickness of . In

independent India Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independen ...

, one rupee coins was first minted in 1950 and is currently in circulation.

History

Sur Empire

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri ( ps, شیرشاه سوری) (1472, or 1486 – 22 May 1545), born Farīd Khān ( ps, فرید خان) , was the founder of the Sur Empire in India, with its capital in Sasaram in modern-day Bihar. He standardized the silver coin ...

, the founder of the

Sur Empire The Sur Empire ( ps, د سرو امپراتورۍ, dë sru amparāturəi; fa, امپراطوری سور, emperâturi sur) was an Afghan dynasty which ruled a large territory in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent for nearly 16 year ...

ruled

North India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

from 1540 to 1545 AD.Majumdar, R.C. (ed.) (2007). ''The Mughul Empire'', Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, , p.83 During his reign, Suri issued pure silver coins in 1542 and named it ''Rupiya'' (from Sanskrit रौप्य, raupya, meaning silver). The denomination remained in usage through the Mughal,

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

East India company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

rules. The rupiya was retained by the East India company till 1835 and formed the basis of the British Raj currency till 1947. Each rupiya coin weighed . The sub-unit of rupyia were copper pieces and 40 copper pieces constituted as one rupiya. Sher Shah Suri named the copper pieces as

Paisa Paisa (also transliterated as ''pice'', ''pesa'', ''poysha'', ''poisha'' and ''baisa'') is a monetary unit in several countries. The word is also a generalised idiom for money and wealth. In India, Nepal, and Pakistan, the ''Paisa'' currently equa ...

Danish, Dutch, French and Portuguese India

Each minted their own coinage, with

Danish India Danish India () was the name given to the colonies of Denmark (Denmark–Norway before 1814) in the Indian subcontinent, forming part of the Danish colonial empire. Denmark–Norway held colonial possessions in India for more than 200 years, i ...

using

Fano Fano is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the ''Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by popula ...

;

French India French India, formally the ( en, French Settlements in India), was a French colony comprising five geographically separated enclaves on the Indian Subcontinent that had initially been factories of the French East India Company. They were ''de ...

: Roupie and fanon till 1954;

Portuguese India The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a se ...

rupia till 1958, ...

British East India company

In 1717 AD, the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

obtained permission from the Mughal emperor

Farrukhsiyar Farrukhsiyar or Farrukh Siyar () (20 August 16839 April 1719) was the tenth emperor of the Mughal Empire from 1713 to 1719. He rose to the throne after assassinating his uncle, Emperor Jahandar Shah. Reportedly a handsome man who was easily sw ...

to coin Mughal style currency, at their Bombay factory. In 1835 AD, the ''Coinage Act of 1835'' for uniform coinage came into force. Composed of 91.7% silver, the new one rupee coins weighed and had a diameter of . The reverse of all one rupee coins minted after 1835 and before 1862 AD bore "East India Company" instead of the Mughal Empire. The one rupee coins had bust of King William IIII (''IV minted as IIII'') and were first minted in 1835 AD. Rupee coins issued after 1840 bore the busts of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

(1840 to 1901 AD). The

wanted to introduce the

Pound sterling Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...

in India, due to the popularity of the Rupiya, the Pound sterling could not be introduced in India.

Madras Presidency

The

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

issued one rupee coins until 1815 AD. One rupee was equal to twelve fanams.

British Raj (1858-1947)

The

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

started in India in 1858 AD and lasted until Indian independence in 1947. In 1862, new one rupee coins were issued, were known as the ''Regal issue'', bore the bust of Queen Victoria on the obverse and "India" minted on the reverse side. From 1862 to 1939 AD, one rupee coins were minted from 91.7% silver, weighed , had a diameter of and thickness of . The obverse side of the coins featured the busts of

(1862 to 1901 AD),

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

(1903 to 1910 AD),

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

(1911 to 1936 AD) and

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. ...

(1938 to 1947 AD).

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...

was never featured on any one rupee coin since his reign (Jan-Dec 1936 AD) was short. Due to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and II, there was a shortage of silver. As a result of the shortage, 0.917 silver one rupee coins were replaced by Quaternary silver alloy (0.500) in 1940. In 1947, the silver one rupee coin was replaced by nickel coins.

Princely States

Several

Princely States A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

issued their own currency, on the demise of the Mughal empire, with

Hyderabad state Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and t ...

issuing its own

Hyderabadi rupee The Hyderabadi Rupee was the currency of the Hyderabad State from 1918 to 1959. It coexisted with the Indian rupee from 1950. Like the Indian rupee, it was divided into 16 annas, each of 12 pai. Coins were issued in copper (later bronze) for de ...

, between 1918 and 1959. As did: Alwar, Ambliara, Awadh, Bahawalpur, Bharatpur, Bikanir, Bund, Chuda, Dhar, Indergadh, Jaisalmer, Jaora, Junagadh, Kalat, Kutch, Mangrol, Mengani, Muli, Mysore, Nawanagar, Palitana, Rajkot, Ramgarh, Sailana, Sayala and several others.

One rupee coinage from 1835 to 1947

Independent India

On 15 August 1947, India obtained

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

and the

monetary system A monetary system is a system by which a government provides money in a country's economy. Modern monetary systems usually consist of the national treasury, the mint, the central banks and commercial banks. Commodity money system A commodity m ...

and

coinage Coinage may refer to: * Coins, standardized as currency * Neologism, coinage of a new word * ''COINage'', numismatics magazine * Tin coinage, a tax on refined tin * Protologism, coinage of a seldom used new term See also * Coining (disambiguatio ...

of the

were retained. It was not until 15 August 1950 that India introduced new coins. Introduction of new coins (including one rupee coin) was done in following chronology and reasons; * Motifs and symbol of

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

were adapted to represent Indian independence. *Introduction of

metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the Decimal, decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in French Revolution, France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the d ...

and related impact on Indian coinage. *Changes due to metallic value of coins. *"Coinisation" of currency notes for cost-benefit.

Subunits

From 1947 to 1957, the

was not

decimalised Decimalisation or decimalization (see spelling differences) is the conversion of a system of currency or of weights and measures to units related by powers of 10. Most countries have decimalised their currencies, converting them from non-decimal ...

and was divided into 16

annas Annas (also Ananus or Ananias;Goodman, Martin, "Rome & Jerusalem", Penguin Books, p.12 (2007) , ; grc-x-koine, Ἅννας, ; 23/22 BC – death date unknown, probably around AD 40) was appointed by the Roman legate Quirinius as the first High ...

. Each anna was further divided to four

Indian pice Paisa (also transliterated as ''pice'', ''pesa'', ''poysha'', ''poisha'' and ''baisa'') is a monetary unit in several countries. The word is also a generalised idiom for money and wealth. In India, Nepal, and Pakistan, the ''Paisa'' currently equa ...

s (from 1835 to 1947, each pice was divided into three

Indian pie A pie (abbreviated as Ps) was a unit of currency in India, Burma and Pakistan until 1947. It was the smallest currency unit, equal to of a paisa, of an anna or of a rupee. During the mid-nineteenth century, one pie was worth 12 cowry. Mintin ...

s; till the pie was demonetized in 1947). Table below shows sub-units of one rupee (1835–present).

Mintage

As of 2020, one rupee coins are minted by the

India Government Mint The India Government Mint operates four mints in the country for the production of coins: * Mumbai, Maharashtra * Kolkata, West Bengal * Hyderabad, Telangana * Noida, Uttar Pradesh History Under The Coinage Act, 1906, the Government of Indi ...

s in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

and in

Noida Noida, short for New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, is a planned city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Noida is a satellite city of Delhi and is a part of the National Capital Region (NCR) o ...

. All coins are circulated only through the

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for ...

Mint marks

The following mint marks have been used on one rupee coins since 1947.

References

{{Indian currency, 2000= One-base-unit coins Coins of India Rupee