Golf rupee

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Banknote of 10 rupees

The Gulf rupee is a former currency unit that was legal tender in Bahrain , Qatar , Kuwait , Oman and the seven emirates of the so-called Treaty Man from 1959 . The Gulf rupee was pegged 1: 1 to the Indian rupee and was issued by the Reserve Bank of India . From 1961 the rupee was replaced by national currencies, and Oman was the last country to replace the rupee with the saidi riyal , the forerunner of the Omani rial .

history

After Great Britain had signed protectorate treaties with local rulers on the Arab coast of the Persian Gulf between 1820 and 1853 , these areas were administered by the Persian Gulf Residency , which in turn was under the Bombay presidency . This made the Indian rupee legal tender in the British protectorates. Although the Indian rupee was already spread through close trade contacts between the Gulf region and India, it competed with other silver trading coins such as the Maria Theresa thaler until the beginning of the 20th century .

After India gained independence from Great Britain in 1947, the Indian rupee continued to be a currency in the British protectorates in the Persian Gulf. This led to problems in the 1950s with the smuggling of gold from the Emirates and the associated outflow of cash from India. In India, the private import and export of gold was forbidden, the state reserved a monopoly on it with corresponding taxation. The estimated private gold holdings in India in 1959 were between 1.75 and 2 billion US dollars, about two-thirds of the value of Indian cash holdings. To curb smuggling, a special rupee for circulation outside India was introduced in May 1959 by The Reserve Bank of India (Amendment) Act 1959 . This currency, known as the Gulf Rupee , was pegged 1: 1 to the Indian Rupee and there was free convertibility between the two currencies . The redemption of the Indian rupee in sterling was canceled, it remained for the Gulf rupee, but only at the branch of the Reserve Bank of India in Bombay , which was indicated by a corresponding inscription on the banknotes.

Kuwait was the first country to replace the rupee with the Kuwaiti dinar in April 1961 . It was followed by Bahrain in 1965 with the Bahraini dinar , Qatar and today's United Arab Emirates in 1966, when the Indian rupee was devalued. Oman was the last country to replace the Gulf rupee with its own currency on May 7, 1970; When the Indian rupee was devalued in 1966, the Gulf rupee was pegged to the British pound, while the peg to the Indian rupee was no longer applicable.

Banknotes

There were banknotes of 1, 5, 10 and 100 rupees, as well as two special banknotes of 10 and 100 rupees for pilgrims to Mecca . These two banknotes were not convertible to the Indian rupee, but only to the Gulf rupee and also bore the imprint HAJ (dt. Hajj ). Its edition was limited to 1959.

All banknotes were designed according to contemporary Indian banknotes with two exceptions. On the one hand, the redemption was restricted, instead of the text I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of ... at any office of issue , the text was changed to ... at the office of issue at Bombay , and the colors were changed.

value Indian Rupee Golf rupee Hajj edition
1 R. violet red -
5 Rs. green orange -
10 Rs. violet red blue
100 Rs. blue green red

Own coins of the Gulf rupee did not exist.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Evolution of the Omani Currency Article in the Times of Oman from October 15, 2015 (Eng.)

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