Recently, a claim has surfaced on social media platforms that over a century back in 1917, the value of one Indian rupee was equal to 13 US dollars. The viral post further says that in 1947, when India got independence, the value of one rupee became equal to one US dollar. And at present, 1 USD is equal to Rs 74.
Several Facebook users are sharing the image that has some Hindi text on it that roughly translates to, “In 1917 our 1 rupee was equal to 13 dollars. At the time of independence, 1 dollar was equal to 1 rupee. Later, due to government’s bad leadership and politics, dollar that was below us is now equal to 74 Rs today.”
(Original:1917 में हमारा 1 रुपया 13 डॉलर के बराबर था। वहीं आजादी के समय 1 डॉलार 1 रुपया के बराबर था। बादमें देश में एसे नेता और सरकार आयी जिनके खराब राजनीतियों के कारण हमसे नीचे रहने वाला डॉलच आज 74 रुये के बराबर हो गाय है।)
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral claim and found it to be misleading.
India was under the rule of the British empire in 1917, and hence all transactions were done as per the prevalent currency at that point in time. On performing relevant keyword searches, we found a document by the Reserve Bank of India titled Currency, Exchange and Banking Prior to 1935. In 1917, the value of one rupee was 1 shilling 4 pence, which was equal to 0.066 pounds. And, according to the exchange rate in 1917, 1 pound was equal to 4.7 USD. Similarly, on calculating, 1 rupee would amount to 0.314 USD and hence, 1USD was equal to Rs. 3.33.
Therefore, contrary to the viral claim, one rupee was equal to 0.314 USD.
On performing relevant keyword searches, we found a Thomas Cook report according to which, in 1947, the value of 1 USD in Indian currency was Rs 3.30.
As on February 23, 2022, the value of 1 USD is equal to Rs. 74.88.
Therefore, with the above information, it can be concluded that the claims made in the viral post are misleading.
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