Minting Money or Minting Knowledge
The word “Rupees” is derived from the Sanskrit word “Rupyakam” which means a silver coin. The coins that you hold, or the coins kept in the box for paying iron wala/presswala or the coins in the cupholder of your car or the coins in your piggybank with long lost childhood memories...... each have a story to tell. The Indian coins are more than 2500 years old. In Vedas gold coins are mentioned in the form of Suvarna (weight in gold of a full-grown cow).
The origin of Indian currency system goes back to 1540-45 issued by Sher Shah Suri. Jahangir, a Mughal emperor minted gold coins with a diameter of 21 cm and weighed about 12 kgs. “Fanam” small gold coins were also available which weighed around 0.3 grams and a diameter of less than 1cm.
The Indian government has 4 mints for the production of coins in India.
• Mumbai (Maharashtra)
• Kolkata (West Bengal)
• Hyderabad (Telangana)
• Noida (U P)
Every coin you hold in your hand (well now you may not because of digital money) has a birthmark or precisely called a mintmark.
- Bombay (Mumbai) mint- The coin has a diamond mark under the date of coin (year of issue) It may also have a mint mark “B” or “M”.
- Calcutta (Kolkata) mint- These coins have no mark under date of issue (this was so because Calcutta mint was the first mint in India), or it has a “c” mark.
- Hyderabad mint- It has a star mark under date of issue. The other mark includes a split diamond and a dot in the diamond.
- Noida mint- It has a dot under date of issue. It is the first mint to produce coins of stainless steel.
Coins are like plain jane “activites quitidiennes regulieres”, but adding some knowledge know-how makes it so very interesting that you quickly go ahead and check the mintmark of the coin you have near you.
Considering every paraphernalia, Gravitons Centre of Excellence is introducing industry-oriented knowledge imparted by “Professors of Practice” who are having industry knowledge expertise of more than 10 years to add more know-how which will help you to stay focused, retain information and climb up the career progress ladder!
— Aditi Bhattacharya