75 Years of the Indian Rupee | From Sher Shah Suri to today: 500-year global journey

Soon after Independence, India adopted the ‘lion capital’ of Mauryan emperor Ashoka the Great as its national emblem. Beginning August 15, 1950, this replaced the British monarch on all Indian coins. The year 2025 thus marks the 75th anniversary of the Indian Rupee as the currency of independent India.

Yet the rupee’s story stretches centuries earlier, mirroring the commerce, conquests and cultures of the subcontinent. The first rupee coin — a silver denomination — was introduced by Sher Shah Suri. Bearing the Islamic year 945 (June 1538-May 1539), it was likely struck in Bihar. The coin carried an innovation: the legend “May Allah perpetuate his kingdom”, along with Sher Shah’s name rendered in both Arabic and Devanagari.

The word Rupiyah itself appeared for the first time during the 47th year of the reign of Mughal emperor Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad Akbar. Struck at the Agra mint, these coins displayed denominations — rupiyah, darb (½ rupee) and charan (¼ rupee). They are referenced in the Ain-i-Akbari, Abu’l Fazal’s celebrated account of Akbar’s administration.

Now, the Sarmaya Arts Foundation is showcasing this vast legacy through ‘Odyssey of the Rupee: From India to the World’, a landmark exhibition mapping 500 years of Indian currency across three continents. The exhibition runs from November 1, 2025, to January 31, 2026, at Sarmaya’s archive in Lawrence & Mayo House on Dr Dadabhai Naoroji Road in Mumbai’s Fort area — close to both the Reserve Bank of India and the India Government Mint.

“Through a wide curation from our numismatics, maps and arts archive, visitors will be able to visualise for the first time the rupee’s complete historical arc — from a hand-struck silver coin to the crisp notes in their wallets today,” said founder Paul Abraham, a veteran banker and passionate art collector. “Odyssey of the Rupee is a seminal moment for Sarmaya,” he added, noting that exhibits include the first rupee issued by Sher Shah Suri, the first coin of independent India, rupees of Maratha, Sikh and other Indian dynasties, and foreign rupees that once circulated across Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia — “a testament to the currency’s remarkable global reach”.

The exhibition is curated by Dr Shailendra Bhandare, Assistant Keeper of South Asian and Far-eastern Numismatics and Paper Money Collections, Fellow of St Cross College and member of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, who has served as Curator of Coins at the Ashmolean Museum since 2002.

“The rupee’s journey transcends our borders, spanning from Tbilisi in Georgia to East Java in Indonesia. Odyssey of the rupee follows these trails and situates them within the larger movements of Indian history,” Dr Bhandare said, adding, “In its 75th year, the Indian Rupee remains a vital link to our past — a living archive of conquest and commerce, empire and independence, language and faith. The rupee’s odyssey mirrors our own.”

The exhibition presents a comprehensive narrative of currency, empire, trade, identity and global circulation — tracing how the rupee (and related coins) travelled across continents due to commerce, conquest, colonisation, migration, and exchange.

Instead of reading history through textbooks, “Odyssey of the Rupee” lets you see, hold (virtually), and experience how currency — a mundane daily object — reflects centuries of migration, trade, empire, revolution, identity and global connections.

The rupee wasn’t just India’s currency — it circulated across seas, was adopted by foreign powers, and shaped trade networks from the Indian Ocean to East Africa, South-East Asia, the Middle East and beyond. The exhibition restores that global context.