Notes of the Princely States

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Of the numerous Princely states in India, a few issued their own notes. They include Hyderabad, Jammu & Kashmir, Kutch, Morvi, Dhrangadhra and Navanagar.

The notes of Jammu & Kashmir are the earliest and were issued in the last decades of 19^th century. They were issued by the government and were accepted only in the payments of tax dues. As such, they enjoyed a very limited circulation. The notes of Morvi and Dhrangadhra were more like a bearer bond and they were denoted as "Havala". Both these states are known to have issued these notes during the currency shortage of WWI. The notes of Morvi were of 250 Rs. while those of Dharangadhra were of 5 and 50 Rs. denomination.

Navanagar also contemplated to issue notes of 10 Rupees in the same period. However, they were never issued and survive only as few unissued specimens. Kutch planned the issue of it's notes during WWII. But the issue could not become a reality as the state had no reserve against the issue. They are known from a unique set in Kutch Museum, Bhuj, Gujarat.

Hyderabad was the only state which had a full fledged paper currency which came into existence in 1916, and enjoyed wide circulation till1952. The notes were printed till 1939 by Waterlow & Sons, and then onwards by the Security Press at Nasik. The notes are dated in "Fasli" years, an era which was current in the Deccan, associated closely with the Hijri era. The notes are printed entirely in Urdu and other languages which were current in the state, like Kannada, Telgu and Marathi. They are signed by the "Moin-ul-Mulam" or Finance Minister. Sir R.R.Clancey, Hyder Nawaz Jung, Fakhre-yar Jung are a few of the signatories.

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