§ Sir JOHN ROLLESTONasked the Under-Secretary of State for India the actual cost to the Government of India in terms of gold of the silver contained in 360W the rupee, which has the legal value conferred upon it in India of 1s. 4d.; and whether rupees are being coined in India not alone for local purposes, but also for exportation to and use in other parts of the British Empire?
§ Mr. HAROLD BAKERThe actual cost of the rupee in terms of gold necessarily varies with the price of silver. The rupee contains three-eighths of an ounce of silver of eleven-twelfths fineness, and the cost of coining a rupee, after including all charges, is slightly more than three, eighths of the price per ounce paid for the silver used in its coinage. Thus when standard silver is bought at 24d. per ounce the cost of a rupee, after minting, is approximately 9.181d.; with silver at 32d. it is approximately 12.24133d., and so on. Rupees are coined in India to meet the requirements of that country, and not directly for exportation. The Indian rupee however, circulates in Ceylon and in parts of East Africa, and passes, in the course of trade, from India to those countries and from them to India; and, in so far as such movements affect the stock of rupees in India they influence the amount of coinage of rupees in that country.