Indian Notes used in Other Countries

For the First time, Indian currency notes were used in a separate country in 1935. In that year, the Government of India Act 1935 was enacted, causing the territory of Burma to be separated from the administration of the Government of India. 10 Rupees and 100 Rupees notes with the picture of King George V were overprinted "Legal Tender in Burma only" for use exclusively within Burma. Even though the Government of Burma was separated, the financial administration remained under the Reserve Bank of India. A set of notes were issued in 1937 bearing the picture of King George VI in denominations of 2, 10, 100, 1000 and 10000 Rupees, depicting various Burmese scenes. As the issue of these notes was regulated by the Reserve Bank of India, they were classified as Indian Notes but their circulation remained limited to Burma.

During the Second World War, Burma was occupied by the Japanese. After it’s liberation in 1944 it was placed under a military administration until 1946. During this period, Indian notes with overprint "Military Administration of Burma / Legal Tender in Burma Only" were used in circulation. These notes are of 5, 10 and 100 Rupees denomination. In 1946, civil government was restored in Burma, and the financial administration was given over to a "Burma Currency Board". This board once again employed the Indian Bank Notes with overprint "Burma Currency Board / Legal Tender in Burma Only" for circulation within Burma. Notes with these overprints often reached India where attempts were sometimes made by people to eliminate the overprints and use the note in India. However, when such attempts were discovered, the respective notes were treated as defaced and put out of circulation with the stamp "Burma Notes / Payment Refused".

India achieved independence in 1947 followed by it’s partition to create the nation of Pakistan. In the initial phase of it’s existence, the Government of Pakistan employed Indian Notes with a superscription in the watermark window. It contained "Government of Pakistan" in English and "Hukumat e Pakistan" in Urdu. Notes of Rs. 1, 2, 5, 10 and 100 were superinscribed in this way.

During the 1950s, the Indian Government successfully concluded a treaty with the Gulf States such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat and various minor states (called trucial states) which made the Indian Rupee a legal tender in these states. This was in continuation of the policy when these states were under British protection. The treaty was enacted by India in order to curb the gold smuggling from Arab states to India. Special Notes were issued for this purpose. The designs of contemporary Indian Notes were retained, but the colors were changed to distinguish these "Gulf" notes. Also, the serial numbers were prefixed by "Z" to allow separate accounting. These notes were fairly short lived in circulation as the Gulf states gradually developed their own currency. After the discovery of Oil, the economy of Gulf states zoomed past India and the inflationary value of Indian Rupee made it impossible to be accepted at par with Gulf currencies. As a result, the states discontinued the use of Indian Rupees one after the other. The last state to go off the Indian standard was Muscat in 1968.

Special notes were issued by the Reserve Bank of India for use at the Haj for Muslim Pilgrims. These notes also retained the design but were printed in different colors. They bear the words "HAJ" near the "Reserve bank of India" Panel.

[Pictures of Indian Currency used in other countries]