The Hyderabadi Rupee (better known as "Osmania Sicca") was the currency of the

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state in the Deccan region of south-central India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and the ...

from 1918 to 1959. It co-existed with the

Indian rupee The Indian rupee (symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (Hindi plural; singular: ''paisa''). The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve ...

from 1950. Like the Indian rupee, it was divided into 16 annas, each of 12 pai. Coins were issued in

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

(later

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

) for denominations of 1 and 2 pai and anna, in cupro-

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

(later bronze) for 1 anna and in

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

for 2, 4 and 8 annas and 1 rupee. Hyderabad was the only Indian princely state that was permitted to continue issuing its notes after it was annexed by the

Dominion of India The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India, * * was an independent dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations existing between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950. Until its Indian independence movement, independence, India had be ...

in 1948 and joined the

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by ...

in 1950.

History

The Government of Hyderabad made several efforts to organise private bankers to set up a banking company that could issue paper money. The British, however, resisted the attempts of Indian princely state to issue paper currency. The acute shortage of silver during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the contributions of Hyderabad to the British war effort led them to accept, in 1918, paper currency in denominations of 10 and 100 rupees issued under the Hyderabad Currency Act. The currency was designated as ''Osmania Sicca'' (OS). One- and five-rupee notes were subsequently issued in 1919, and one-thousand-rupee notes were issued in 1926. After the setting up of the India Currency Notes Press at Nashik, Hyderabadi notes came to be printed there. In 1942, the Government of Hyderabad established the Hyderabad State Bank, with the responsibility, ''inter alia'', of managing the OS. Hyderabad continued to mint its coins until 1948 when India occupied the state after the Nizam refused to cede it to the new Dominion. In 1950, the Indian rupee was introduced alongside the local currency, with the relationship of 7 Hyderabadi rupees = 6 Indian rupees being used. In 1951, the Hyderabadi rupee ceased to be issued and the Indian rupee became the main circulating currency, although the Hyderabadi rupee was not demonetised until 1959. After the merger of Hyderabad State with India, the Hyderabadi currency was gradually demonetised in stages, starting from January 1953. The next stage was in 1955 and finally, it was decided that Hyderabadi Rupee would no longer remain a valid currency after 30 June 1959

Banknotes

Hyderabad_-_One_Rupee_-_Mahboob_Ali_Khan_-_1329_AH_Silver_-_Kolkata_2016-06-28_5271-5272

Hyderabad - One Rupee - Osman Ali Khan - 1335 AH Silver - Kolkata 2016-06-29 5351-5352

The

banknote A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commerc ...

s of Hyderabad were issued from 1918 until 1953. The ruling

Nizam of Hyderabad Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I wh ...

was Mir Osman Ali Khan. Notes issued as early as 1916 have been reported. The notes are dated in the Fasli Era, so adding 589 to the FE date will convert it to the AD date. They were printed in Urdu, with the value of currency written in

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, Marathi, Telugu,

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

and English on them. In 1932, a quantity of unissued, but water-stained Hyderabadi notes in 5-, 10-, and 100-rupee denominations were recovered from the SS ''Egypt'', which sank off the

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

Ushant Ushant (; , ; , ) is a French island at the southwestern end of the English Channel which marks the westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and in medieval times, Léon. In lower tiers of government, it is a commune in t ...

near Brest, northern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in 1922. Many of these were given a special stamping and sold as souvenirs. These notes were in the process of being shipped from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

where they had been printed. These notes are of historic interest to notaphilists. Some of the notes are printed slightly later than the dates that they bear. The double letter

serial number A serial number (SN) is a unique identifier used to ''uniquely'' identify an item, and is usually assigned incrementally or sequentially. Despite being called serial "numbers", they do not need to be strictly numerical and may contain letters ...

prefix determines what series the note is located in. Some of the 1939-53 issues have a single serial number of prefix series code letters. Hali Osmania paper currency in Hyderabad State that was returned to the treasury from 1 July 1953 to 31 October 1953 is O. S. Rs 8.05 crores including one-rupee notes. and O. S.Rs 18.42 crores including rupee coins and small coins as of 28 November 1953.https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/55653/1/lsd_01_05_14-12-1953.pdf Page no. 25

Signature chart

The signature also provides a clue to the approximate period when a note was issued. It is not yet certain what titles the signatories held (in English), as the inscriptions are in

. *Sir Reginald R. Clancy (1918–19) * Fakhr-ud-Din Ahmad (1919–20) * Hyder Nawaz Jung (1921–36) * Fakhr-Yar Jung (1936–38 and 1940–41) * Mehdi Yar Jung (1939) *Sir Ghulam Muhammad (1941–45) * Liaquat Jung (1945 and 1946–47) * Zahed Husain (1945–46) * Zahed Jung (1946) * Moin Nawaz Jung (1947–48) * D.R. Pradhan (1948–49) * C.V.S. Rao (1950) *Dr. G.S. Melkote (1950–53)

First issue (1916/18-19) Sir Reginald R. Clancy

*PS261. 1 rupee. ND. (1919) Black on peach underprint. Backlight brown. *PS262. 1 rupee. ND. (1919) Bicoloured. *PS264. 10 rupees. FE1327. (1916) Yellow-brown and black on lilac underprint. Series AB.

Second issue (1919-20) Fakhr-ud-Din Ahmad

*PS263a. 5 rupees. FE1331. (1920). Green. Series IQ. Without signature. Sea salvage note (most with special stamping). Unissued. *PS265a. 10 rupees. FE1331. (1920). Yellow-brown and black on lilac underprint. Series AI. Without signature. Sea salvage note (most with special stamping). Unissued. *PS266a. 100 rupees. FE1331. (1920). Blue and black on tan underprint. Series PS. Without signature. Sea salvage note (most with special stamping). Unissued.

Third issue (1921-36) Hyder Nawaz Jung

*PS263b. 5 rupees. FE1337. (1926). Green. Series LX. *PS263c. 5 rupees. FE1346. (1935). Green. Series MC. *PS265b. 10 rupees. FE1333. (1922). Yellow-brown and black on lilac underprint. Series AN. *PS265c. 10 rupees. FE1338. (1927). Series ?. *PS265d. 10 rupees. FE1339. (1928). Series BK. *PS265e. 10 rupees. FE1342. (1931). Series BW. *PS265f. 10 rupees. FE1344. (1933). Series ?. *PS265g. 10 rupees. FE1346. (1935). Series CH. *PS266b. 100 rupees. FE1339. (1928). Blue and black on tan underprint. Series PY-PZ. *PS266c. 100 rupees. FE1339. (1928). Series QA. *PS266d. 100 rupees. FE1334. (1923). Series PT. *PS267. 1,000 rupees. FE1340. (1929); FE1341. (1930). Red and black on light green underprint.

Fourth issue (1936-38) Fakhr-Yar Jung (1st time)

*PS263d. 5 rupees. FE1347. (1936). Green. Series MD-ME. *PS265h. 10 rupees. FE1347. (1936). Yellow-brown and black on lilac underprint. *PS273a. 5 rupees. ND. (1938; 1940–41). Green and multicoloured. *PS274a. 10 rupees. ND. (1938; 1940–41). Light brown and multicoloured. *PS275a. 100 rupees. ND. (1938; 1940–41). Blue and multicoloured. Series QC.

Fifth issue (1939) Mehdi Yar Jung

*PS271a. 1 rupee. ND. (1939). Brown and multicoloured. Series A. *PS273b. 5 rupees. ND. (1939). Green and multicoloured. *PS274b. 10 rupees. ND. (1939). Light brown and multicoloured. *PS275b. 100 rupees. ND. (1939). Blue and multicoloured. Series QF and QH-QJ.

Sixth issue (1940-41) Fakhr-Yar Jung (2nd time)

*PS271b. 1 rupee. ND. (1940–41). Brown and multicoloured. Series B-M.

Seventh issue (1941-45) Sir Malik Ghulam Muhammad

*PS271c. 1 rupee. ND. (1941–45). Brown and multicoloured. Series B-X. (two signatories). *PS273c. 5 rupees. ND. (1941–45). Green and multicoloured. *PS274c. 10 rupees. ND. (1941–45). Light brown and multicoloured. *PS275c. 100 rupees. ND (1941–45). Blue and multicoloured. Series QN and QP.

Eighth issue (1945) Liaquat Jung (1st time)

*PS271c. 1 rupee. ND. (1945). Brown and multicoloured. Series B-X. (two signatories). *PS275d. 100 rupees. ND. (1945; 1946–47). Blue and multicoloured. Series QS.

Ninth issue (1945-46) Zahed Husain

*PS271d. 1 rupee. ND. (1945–46). Brown and multicoloured. Series S-W. *PS272b. 1 rupee. ND. (1945–46). *PS273d. 5 rupees. ND. (1945–46). Green and multicoloured. *PS274d. 10 rupees. ND. (1945–46). Light brown and multicoloured. *PS275e. 100 rupees. ND. (1945–46). Blue and multicoloured. Series QY.

Tenth issue(1946) Zahed Jung

*PS271e. 1 rupee. ND. (1946). Brown and multicoloured. Series X-Y. *PS272c. 1 rupee. ND. (1946).

Eleventh issue (1946-47) Liaquat Jung (2nd time)

*PS272a. 1 rupee. ND. (1946–47). Brown and multicoloured. Series Z and AB. *PS273e. 5 rupees. ND. (1946–47). Green and multicoloured. *PS274e. 10 rupees. ND. (1946–47). Light brown and multicoloured.

Twelfth issue (1947-48) Moin Nawaz Jung

This issue is historic as it was issued in the short period that Hyderabad attempted to become independent as a

constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...

within the

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an international association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire The B ...

. *PS272d. 1 rupee. ND. (1947–48). Brown and multicoloured.

Thirteenth issue (1948-49) D.R. Pradhan

This was the first issue after Hyderabad was liberated from the Nizam's rule and forced to be incorporated into the

as a result of Operation Polo. *PS272e. 1 rupee. ND. (1948–49). Brown and multicoloured. Currency Signed by Dr G S Melkote

Fourteenth issue (1950) C.V.S. Rao

This was the first issue after India became a republic (26 January 1950). *PS272f. 1 rupee. ND. (1950). Brown and multicoloured.

Fifteenth issue (1950-53) Dr. G.S. Melkote

*PS272g. 1 rupee. ND. (1950–53). Brown and multicoloured.