Revisiting the Exchange Standard, 1898-1913

The exchange standard that emerged shortly after the long 14 months of deliberations of the Fowler Committee was styled by Keynes as a gold exchange standard, advocated by Lindsay. But he knew it was really not so. It consisted of a 16d token rupee, unlimited legal tender, freely coined and sold for council bills (or sovereigns, in India), no exchange reserve except coinage profits sent to London, and no legal convertibility of the rupee into sterling or gold, except at London's discretion. The crises of 1906-07 in the US affecting the Bank of England, then famines in India and slackening of world economy, revealed serious cracks. Yet Keynes persisted in shielding India Office.