News RSS and Amit shah were the reasons for Bihar debacle: Manjhi

IndianMascot

Core Member


I don't know what you read in this and concluded that once upon a time $1 was equal to Rs 1


A popular outrage to share these days onFacebook and Twitter is how the Indianrupee which was equal to 1 US dollar on15th, August 1947 has fallen to the recent lows. An IANS news wire picked up by multiple newspapers also mentioned this very interesting 'fact'.

Interestingly Narendra Modi's speech writers also fell for the same error recently. The source of these seems to be this wikipedia article which mentions this exchange rate but does not cite any references in support of the number. The graph given next to the section starts in the 90s.

Indian rupee was pegged to the British Pound till 1966 (see footnote on page 1 of this RBI document) when it was devalued and pegged to the US Dollar. A good account of the twodevaluations of 1966 and 1991 is given in this paper by Johri and Miller. The peg to the pound was at INR 13.33 to a Pound which itself was pegged to $4.03. That means officially speaking the USD to INR rate would be closer to Rs 4. In 1966, India changed the peg to dollar at INR 7.50. Surely, the exchange rates are not very meaningful when the currencies are fixed by governments and the unofficial rates would be usually even worse given the pressure British Pound was under post world war 2.

When I encountered this message, my main objection was that the exchange rate of a currency is not really an indication of its strength. I am sure it is nobody's contention that India of 2013 is worse off than India of 1947. What was funny about the 1 USD = 1 INR posts was that it was justified with an argument that since India had no external borrowings, its currency was at par with the dollar.
 

IndianMascot

Core Member
In this article too its no where written that $1 = Re 1.

I suggest you to first read then share the exact excerpts along with the article link.
 

Prateek Marwadi

EntMnt Rockers
Finest Member
In this article too its no where written that $1 = Re 1.

I suggest you to first read then share the exact excerpts along with the article link.
The Indian rupee, which was on a par with the American currency at the time of Independence in 1947

the first sentence of the article itself said that.
now par means equal only na.
 

IndianMascot

Core Member
There is no proof of that and such an valuation of Indian Rupee was not adopted by America. Moreover reason mentioned to counter the valuation itself is absurd

There were no foreign borrowings on India's balance sheet..
 

Prateek Marwadi

EntMnt Rockers
Finest Member
There is no proof of that and such an valuation of Indian Rupee was not adopted by America. Moreover reason mentioned to counter the valuation itself is absurd
economic times is the best business news paper.
branded news paper won't tell a lie.
even i heard it long time ago. many business news channels also said the same thing only.
 

Sanjeev

Core Member
Maybe it is true but today or tomorrow it will never ever be equal to American dollar instead it will increase further
 
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