A post comparing the value of rupee with that of USD in 1917 and 2014 is doing rounds on social media. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: In 1917, one rupee was equal to $13 USD whereas in 2014 $1 USD was equal to Rs. 63.
Fact: USD was not weaker compared to Indian Rupee in the year 1917. According to the RBI, the value of One rupee in 1917 is equivalent to 0.314 USD. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
In 1917, India was under the British rule and the foreign exchanges were done in the British currency (Pound). According to the Reserve bank of India, during the year 1917, one rupee was fixed at 1 shilling 4 pence – 1s 4d (equal to 0.066 pounds). When a pound is converted into dollars as per the exchange rate prevailing back then, One rupee would amount to 0.314 USD, which means 1USD was equal to Rs. 3.33. So, in the year 1917, the Indian rupee was weaker compared to USD.
According to the RBI, the exchange rate by the end of 2014 (i.e. 31-12-2014) was 63.3315. However, the average annual exchange rate of Indian rupee to USD for the year 2014 was 61.0295.
To sum it up, value of One Rupee in 1917 is equal to 0.314 USD, not 13 USD.
Update (20 JULY 2022):
Lately in the context of depreciating rupee against the US Dollar, a post which talks about the reasons behind the downfall of rupee’s exchange rate vis-à-vis the dollar wrongly claims that at the time of independence, i.e. in 1947, one dollar was equal to one rupee.
However, as per the historic data related to rupee-dollar exchange rate available on RBI website, at the time of independence one dollar as equal to Rs. 3.31. During 1945-49 time period, the exchange rate hovered around Rs. 3, proving the claim to be misleading.
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