https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Indian_Currency_CommitteeIndian Currency Committee - Revision history2026-07-31T05:54:44ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Indian_Currency_Committee&diff=40511&oldid=prev>Dawnseeker2000 at 23:10, 9 January 20212021-01-09T23:10:42Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Distinguish-redirect|Fowler Committee|Fowler Commission}}<br />
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The '''Indian Currency Committee''' or '''Fowler Committee''' was a government committee appointed by the [[British Raj|British-run Government of India]] on 29 April 1898 to examine the currency situation in India.<ref name="chishti2001">{{Citation | title=Committees and commissions in pre-independence India 1836–1947, Volume 3 | author=M. Anees Chishti | year= 2001 | isbn=978-81-7099-803-7 | publisher=Mittal Publications | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5JipbQyOCQC | quote=''... The Indian Currency Committee was appointed by the Royal Warrant of 29 April 1898 ... by the closing of the Indian Mints to what is known as the free coinage of Silver ...''}}</ref> Until 1892, silver was the metal on which Indian currency and coinage had largely been based. In 1892, the Government of India announced its intent to "''close Indian mints to silver''" and, in 1893, it brought this policy into force.<ref name="westaus1899jsd">{{Citation | title=India: The Currency Question | date= 31 July 1899 | newspaper=The West Australian | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3231860 | quote=''... London, July&nbsp;29 ... The Imperial Government have ... adopted the recommendations of the Indian Currency Committee ... proceed to the establishment of a gold currency ... legal rate at which rupees are to exchange with gold be fixed at 1s. 4d. per rupee or 15 rupees to the sovereign ...''}}</ref> The committee recommended that the official Indian rupee be based on the [[gold standard]] and the official exchange rate of the rupee be established at 15 rupees per [[Sovereign (British coin)|British sovereign]], or 1 [[shilling]] and 4 [[pence]] per rupee.<ref name="westaus1899jsd" /> The [[British Empire|British Imperial Government]] accepted the recommendations of the commission in July 1899.<ref name="westaus1899jsd" /><br />
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The action of the government in abandoning silver coinage was driven by the relative decline of the value of silver against gold, which had led to an accompanying decline of the rupee against gold and gold-based currencies (such as the British sovereign).<ref name="carver1893">{{Citation | title=The place of abstinence in the theory of interest | author=Thomas Nixon Carver | year=1893 | publisher=Geo. H. Ellis | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=beAZAAAAYAAJ | quote=''... the Indian government suggested as early as March 1892, the adoption of some measures towards checking the decline in the gold value of the rupee ...''}}</ref> India had been importing about a quarter of the annual global production of silver, in part to meet its currency issuing requirements.<ref name="edinreview1989ist">{{Citation | title=The Indian Gold Standard | journal=The Edinburgh Review: Or Critical Journal |volume=188 | date=October 1898 | publisher=A. Constable | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vmI-7if6KWIC | quote=''... in the estimation of civilized nations silver had definitely been excluded ... the third, and main, great ally of silver was India ... India was buying on an average about a quarter, and the United States rather more than a third of the silver production of the entire world ...''}}</ref> Some commentators noted that silver was gradually being globally discarded as a basis of currency, with only three main remaining supporters: Mexico (a major producer of silver), the United States, and India.<ref name="edinreview1989ist" /> With India's move to the gold standard, the [[silver standard]] lost a significant supporter.<ref name="edinreview1989ist" /><br />
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==Miscellaneous==<br />
The committee was chaired by [[Henry Fowler, 1st Viscount Wolverhampton|Sir Henry Fowler (later Viscount Fowler)]], and was often referred to as the Fowler Committee.<ref name="icc1898oea">{{Citation | title=Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Committee Appointed to Inquire into the Indian Currency: Together with an Analysis of the Evidence | author=Indian Currency Committee | year=1898 | publisher=Eyre and Spottiswoode | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfpKAAAAYAAJ | quote=''... The Right Hon. Sir H.H. Fowler, M.P., Chairman, Indian Currency Committee ...''}}</ref> Its final recommendation was also referred to as the Fowler Report.<ref name="ireland1907">{{Citation | title=The province of Burma: a report prepared on behalf of the University of Chicago | author=Alleyne Ireland | year=1907 | publisher=Houghton, Mifflin and company | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aG4oAAAAYAAJ | quote=''... the Report of the Indian Currency Committee of 1898 (generally known as the Fowler Report) ...''}}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
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[[Category:Rupee]]<br />
[[Category:Gold standard]]<br />
[[Category:Currencies of India]]<br />
[[Category:1898 in India]]<br />
[[Category:Economic history of India]]<br />
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