1 Piastre Indochinese Federation

By 1946, France was attempting to reassert colonial authority over Indochina while simultaneously fighting the Viet Minh, and these piastres were part of that effort to project monetary normalcy onto a disintegrating political situation. The Banque de l'Indochine, a private institution rather than a state bank, had controlled currency issuance in the region since 1875 — a arrangement that nationalist movements on all sides found intolerable.

The two KM varieties differ by the presence or absence of a dot after "FÉDÉRATION," a small typographic distinction reflecting shifting administrative language around the newly proclaimed Indochinese Federation, itself a French attempt to repackage imperial control as federation.