Royal Commission on Indian Finance and Currency. Final Report of the Commissioners

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY WE the undersigned Commissioners appointed to inquire into the location and management of the general balances of the Government of India ; the sale in London of Council bills and transfers ; the measures taken by the Indian Goverment and the Secretary of State for India in Council to maintain the exchange value of the rupee in pursuance of or supplementary to the r [...] 4. Our reference indicates the following main subjects for our inquiry : the general balances of the Government of India and of the India Office in India and London respectively : the sale of Council drafts by the Secretary of State in London: the Gold Standard Reserve : the Paper Currency Reserve : the system by which the exchange value of the rupee is maintained : and the Financial Organisation [...] 8. Much of the report of the Committee of 1898 was occupied with the discussion of the merits of the policy of closing the Indian mints to the unrestricted coinage of silver. [...] The main object of the closing of the mints to the unrestricted coinage of silver was to remedy the state of things resulting from the fall in the gold value of the rupee cwi iv to the fall in the gold price of silver. [...] The crisis of 1907-8 was the first great test to which the Indian currency system as developed since the date of the Report of the Committee of 1898 was put and the arrangements made for maintaining the exchange value of the rupee stood the test well.