The Age Of Stars

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The Age Of Stars

143 editions · 1875 to 2017The reading-room edition · Wednesday, 30 September 2026180 sources catalogued

The Crisis Year · 1990–1992

The summer India's gold flew to London

In 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.

Foreign exchange reserves, 1980 to 2000$ million
020k40k60k19801985199019952000

Source: World Bank WDI.

Read the feature
The Colonial Account · 1875–1914What 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.War Finance · 1939–1957The 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.Who Owned the Banks · 1863–1935Named 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.

The editions

Every year from 1875 to 2017 →

One paper for each year, set in the type of its day and built only from dated records: who held office, what the Bank Rate was, which banks failed, what was borrowed and from whom. Taller bars mean a fuller record.

1893Closure of the Indian mints to the free coinage of silverCrown Rule1921The Imperial Bank of India took over the three Presidency Banks of Bengal, Bombay and MadrasWar and Depression1935Reserve Bank of India is foundedWar and Depression1943Reserve Bank of India: The Governor (Sir James Taylor) circulated a memorandum, Sterling Balances and Inflation in India, to the…War and Depression1947UK–India Financial Agreement; balances blocked into Nos. 1 and 2 accountsThe Planned Republic1966Rupee devaluationThe Planned Republic1969Nationalisation of 14 major banksThe Planned Republic1991Balance-of-payments crisisThe Open Economy2008Global Financial CrisisThe Open Economy

The century in charts

The Statistical Supplement →
Bank Rate at the three Presidency Banks% a year
051018801890190019101920

Source: RBI, Banking and Monetary Statistics of India (1954). Download CSV

The Reserve Bank's Bank Rate% a year
051015195019601970198019902000

Source: RBI; IMF International Financial Statistics. Download CSV

Rupees per US dollar₹ per $
020406080251020501001950196019701980199020002010

Source: IMF; RBI; World Bank. Download CSV

The Puzzle Page

All puzzles →
Only hereThe Year in QuestionClues from an edition of this paper. Guess the year in six.DailyThe Mini CrosswordFive by five, ten original clues.Three levelsThe Daily SudokuIn English or देवनागरी digits.

Corrections & clarifications

All 117 claims tested →

Popular claims about Indian money, tested against the record. The paper prints the verdict whichever way it falls.

Contradicted

“Britain's December 1950 plan wrote down India's blocked balances by £240 million.”

Claim as found: a misreading that appears in some secondary accounts

Contradicted. The December 1950 plan contemplated a release, a drawing-down, of "some £240 million from the blocked balances of the three countries", of which India's part was £211m, "up to £35 million annually for six years beginning in July 1951". It was a schedule of releases against the balances, not a cancellation of them, and Churchill's earlier counterclaim was not…

Strength of evidence: strong

Partly supported

“Home Charges were a net transfer from India to Britain with no equivalent return.”

Claim as found: Drain theory; Naoroji, Dutt, Ranade, Gokhale

The transfer is documented and large: net disbursements in England of £3.66m (1850-51) rising to about £14.7m in the late 1870s and £16-18m in the 1890s (Fowler App. II Statement 9, table in this file; Statistical Abstract 39th no. table 71). The official components show that a large part was not tribute but payment for things: interest on debt raised in London for Indian railways and irrigation;…

Strength of evidence: strong

Supported

“India had no central bank before 1935.”

Claim as found: Standard textbook statement

The Reserve Bank of India was constituted under the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934 and opened on 1 April 1935 with Sir Osborne Smith as Governor. Before that date the Imperial Bank of India (from 27 January 1921) performed a number of functions normally carried out by a central bank, but it was a commercial bank 80 per cent privately owned; before 1921 the three Presidency Banks performed parts of…

Strength of evidence: strong