1 Rupee - George VI

The shift to .500 fineness on this issue — down from the .917 silver of pre-WWI rupees — was not a wartime emergency measure but the continuation of a debasement policy begun in 1940, driven by the cost of mobilizing British Indian forces across multiple theaters. By 1942, India was supplying over two million troops, and the metal savings from reduced fineness were substantial enough to matter at scale.

Lahore, Bombay, and Calcutta all struck this type, with mint marks distinguishing each. The Lahore pieces are particularly common in higher grades, a mint that would cease producing Indian coinage entirely at Partition in 1947.