Gulf Rupee

Until 1959, the main currency of the Gulf states was the Indian rupee . Like throughout the Arab world, Maria Theresa’s thaler and British sovereigns were also widely used, and Muscat also used his own coins. In 1959, the Reserve Bank and the Government of India, after consultation with the governments of the Gulf states and the Bank of England, announced the issuance of special rupee banknotes for the Gulf states that were not legal tender in India . The exchange of banknotes in Indian rupees for new banknotes was carried out from May 11, 1959 to June 21, 1959.

In 1961, Kuwait refused to use the rupee, introducing on April 1, 1961 its own monetary unit - the Kuwaiti dinar . Exchange was carried out in the ratio: 13 ¹ ⁄ ₃ rupees = 1 dinar.

On October 11, 1965, Bahrain introduced its own currency - the Bahraini dinar , the exchange was made: 10 rupees = 1 dinar.

Gulf Rupee was equated to Indian Rupee. Due to the devaluation of the Indian rupee in June 1966 and the subsequent devaluation of the Persian Gulf rupee by 36.5% of the Gulf state, they refused to use it.

Qatar switched to the Saudi riyal in 1966, exchanged: 1,065 rupees = 1 riyal.

The principalities of Treaty of Oman introduced different currencies in the same year: Abu Dhabi - Bahraini dinar, the rest - Saudi riyals.

Muscat, abandoning the rupee, used in circulation the coins of his own minting in rials and the thaler of Maria Theresa ^[1] .

Banknotes of the Government of India in 1 rupee and banknotes of the Reserve Bank of India in 5, 10, 100 rupees were issued ^[2] .

• Butakov D.D., Zolotarenko E.D., Rybalko G.P. World Currencies: A Handbook / Ed. S.M. Borisova, G.P. Rybalko, O.V. Mozhaiskova. - 5th ed., Revised. and add. - M .: Finance and statistics, 1987. - 383 p.
• Cuhaj GS Standard Catalog of World Paper Money. General Issues 1368-1960. - 12th ed. - Iola: Krause Publications, 2008 .-- 1223 p. - ISBN 978-0-89689-730-4 .

• P. Symes "Gulf Rupees - A History" at islamicbanknotes.com