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The Age Of Stars

Section

Economy

Money, trade, debt and banking: what nations earned, borrowed and spent, read from the ledgers.

1875–1914
The Colonial AccountWhat India Paid London, Head by HeadCouncil Bills, Home Charges and opium as the official books of British India recorded them, set beside what Naoroji and Dutt said they meant.
1863–1935
Who Owned the BanksNamed for India, Registered in LondonThe exchange banks answered to the City; a Presidency Bank was majority Indian-owned. What the records say about who owned colonial India's banks.
1939–1957
War FinanceThe debt that ran the other wayIn August 1939 the Reserve Bank held £48 million in London. By the end of 1945 it held £1,254 million, and Britain decided how fast India could spend it.
1947–2017
The RupeeFour Devaluations and a TantrumA dollar cost ₹3.31 in 1947 and ₹68.85 at the worst of August 2013. The rupee's breaks, who made them, and what the record shows.
1990–1992
The Crisis YearThe summer India's gold flew to LondonIn 1991 India sold 20 tonnes of gold, pledged 46.91 more and devalued twice. The ledger shows who lent, and where its own accounts disagree.

From the record