Brief History of Indian Banknotes That Were Issued For Presidencies

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Brief History of Indian Banknotes That Were
Issued For Presidencies
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• East India Company had issued various types of
  interesting Indian Banknotes for three different
  presidencies namely, Bengal, Bombay and Madras.
• Bank of Hindostan, the General Bank in Bengal and
  Bahar, Bengal Bank issued the earliest banknotes
  of India and these early banknotes of India can
  be classified as per the presidencies they were
  issued for.

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• Old banknotes of India that were issued for
  Bengal Presidency featured designs only one side
  and were called as Uniface notes. They carried
  denominations such as one gold mohur, Rs. 100,
  Rs. 250, Rs. 500, etc
• These Indian presidency notes were later called
  as Commerce Notes as they featured an allegorical
  female figure symbolising 'commerce'. These notes
  featured designs on both sides and had a language
  panel in Urdu, Bengali and Devanagari.

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• Early banknotes of India for Bombay Presidency
  were issued by Bank of Bombay from 1850 to 1860
  although the bank was set up in 1840.
• After the Currency Act of 1861 was introduced,
  private as well as presidency banks were not
  allowed to issue paper promise notes. Some of
  these rare banknotes featured an image of the
  Town Hall of Bombay.

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• Banknotes for India were issued for Madras
  Presidency by the Bank of Madras from 1843.
  Carnatic Bank, Madras Bank and Asiatic Bank were
  merged together to form this bank.
• Madras Bank was set up in 1682 and is considered
  as the first bank in India. Early banknotes
  issued by Bank of Madras depicted the vignette of
  the then Governor of Madras Sir Thomas Munroe.

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• Did you know? Many of these early Indian
  banknotes were issued in odd denominations such
  as 8 rupees, 15 rupees, 25 rupees, 5000 rupees
  etc!
• By studying Indian banknotes, you can learn a lot
  about Indias colonial past. It is very rare to
  find these Early Indian banknotes and if you have
  any of them in your collection, you are really
  lucky!