પ્રાચિન સમયમાં સિક્કાનો ઉપયોગ કરનારા દેશોમાં એક દેશ ભારત પણ હતો . ભારતમાં ઇ.સ્.પુર્વે ૬ સદીથી સિક્કાનું ચલણ છે. પુરાતત્વ સંશોધનમાં મળેલા સિક્કા પરથી જાણી શકાય છેકે હડપ્પીય સંસ્કૃતિમાં પણ સિક્કાનું ચલણ હતું ,જે ઇ.સ્.પુર્વે ૨૫૦૦ થી ૧૭૫૦ દરમ્યાનં પાંગરી હતી પહેલો રૂપિયો બનાવનાર શેર શાહ સુરીરાજા (૧૪૮૬–૧૫૪૫)હતો, જેનું મુલ્ય ૪૦ તાંબાની પાઇ જેટલું હતું. ૧ રૂપિયાનીં પ્રથમ ચલણીનોટ "બેંક ઓફ હિંદુસ્તાન"(૧૭૭૦-૧૮૩૨) દ્વાર બહાર પડાઇ, ત્યાર બાદ "જનરલ બેંક ઓફ બંગાળ અને બિહાર" (૧૭૭૩-૭૫,નિર્માતા,વોરન હેસ્ટીંગ)"બંગાળ બેંક" (૧૭૮૪-૯૧),તથા મદ્રાસ નીં બેંકે પણ રૂપિયાનું ચલણ રાખ્યું જેનું મુલ્ય ૧૨ ફેનમ = ૧ રૂપિયો હતું.

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 not easy to replace. And just as the British government had finally given up any hopes of replacing the rupee in India with the pound sterling, they simultaneously realized, and for the same reasons, that they couldn't 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. In 1898, following the recommendations of the Indian Currency Committee, British India officially adopted the gold exchange standard by pegging the rupee to the British pound sterling at a fixed value of 1 shilling 4 pence (i.e., 15 rupees = 1 pound). In 1920, the actual silver value of the rupee was increased in value to 2 shillings (10 rupees = 1 pound). In British East Africa at this time, the decision was made to replace the rupee with a florin. No such opportunity was, however, taken in British India.

In 1927, the peg was once more reduced, this time to 18 pence (13⅓ rupees = 1 pound). This peg was maintained until 1966, when the rupee was devalued and pegged to the U.S. dollar at a rate of 7.5 rupees = 1 dollar (at the time, the rupee became equal to 11.4 British pence). This peg lasted until the U.S. dollar devalued in 1971.

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.

Image:in2av.jpg | The two-rupee banknote

Image:French1rupee.jpg | French Indian 1 rupee (1938)
Image:Rupee_One_-_Obverse.jpg | One rupee — Obverse

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