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| Issuer | Government of India, Post Office Savings Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
| Type | Cheques |
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| Obverse description | Olive-green certificate on plain paper with an ornate guilloche border. The Ashoka Lion Capital emblem appears centrally at top, flanked by the denomination 1000 in large numerals at left and right. The main text field carries the certificate contract wording, with the Post Office date-stamp and Postmaster signature at lower right. |
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| Obverse lettering | POST OFFICE 12 YEAR NATIONAL SAVINGS CERTIFICATE NOT TRANSFERABLE EXCEPT WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE COMPETENT POSTAL AUTHORITY 1000 RUPEES ONE THOUSAND 12NS/ F/o 074041 RUPEES ONE THOUSAND 1000 This is to certify that XXXXXXXXXX is registered at the XXXXXXXXX Post Office as the holder of a Post Office National Savings Certificate, issued in accordance with the terms of the Notification specified on the reverse, and subject to the Application of the Purchaser which shall be the basis of the Contract. The Government of India undertake to pay to him, on presentation of this Certificate at the aforesaid Post Office on or after the XXXXXXXXX or at any earlier date after the expiry of eighteen months the sum not exceeding Rs. 1500/- specified on the reverse of this Certificate as due on such date. Post Office Date of Issue Register No. POST-OFFICE Postmaster. FREE OF INDIAN INCOME TAX. SEE REVERSE |
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| Comments |
National Savings Certificates issued through India's Post Office Savings Bank were a wartime fiscal tool — the 1944 series was part of a broader British Indian effort to absorb surplus currency and restrain inflation driven by military expenditure across the subcontinent. The 12-year term was deliberately punishing by peacetime standards, designed to lock money out of circulation for the duration of the war and well beyond it.
Few holders actually redeemed these at maturity. Partition in 1947 created jurisdictional chaos for certificates issued in territories that became Pakistan, and many were simply abandoned, lost, or invalidated through administrative discontinuity. Surviving intact examples from undivided India carry that particular awkwardness of an instrument that outlived the government that issued it.