PREFACE

When all but the last of the following chapters were already in type, I was offered a seat on the Royal Commission (1913) on Indian Finance and Currency. If my book had been less far advanced, I should, of course, have delayed publication until the Commission had reported, and my opinions had been more fully formed by the discussions of the Commission and by the evidence placed before it. In the circumstances, however, I have decided to publish immediately what I had already written, without the addition of certain other chapters which had been projected. The book, as it now stands, is wholly prior in date to the labours of the Commission.

J. M. KEYNES.

King’s College, Cambridge,
12th May 1913.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
PAGE
The Present Position of the Rupee[1]
CHAPTER II
The Gold–Exchange Standard[15]
CHAPTER III
Paper Currency[37]
CHAPTER IV
The Present Position of Gold in India and Proposalsfor a Gold Currency[63]
CHAPTER V
Council Bills and Remittance[102]
CHAPTER VI
The Secretary of State’s Reserves and the Cash Balances[124]
CHAPTER VII
Indian Banking[195]
CHAPTER VIII
The Indian Rate of Discount[240]
INDEX[261]
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Chart Showing the Rate of Discount at the Presidency Bank of BengalFace page [240]