The Suku denomination was struck at Bombay for circulation in the Presidency's hinterland trade networks, where local merchants distrusted the rupee's fluctuating fineness. The Company adopted the suku series partly to compete with Dutch and Portuguese fractions already embedded in coastal commerce — a pragmatic concession to existing monetary habits rather than an imposition of British monetary order.
The 1783–84 dating corresponds to a period of intense fiscal pressure on the Bombay Presidency following the First Anglo-Maratha War, when the Company was scrambling to stabilize trade flows disrupted by years of campaign expenditure.
The Suku denomination was struck at Bombay for circulation in the Presidency's hinterland trade networks, where local merchants distrusted the rupee's fluctuating fineness. The Company adopted the suku series partly to compete with Dutch and Portuguese fractions already embedded in coastal commerce — a pragmatic concession to existing monetary habits rather than an imposition of British monetary order.
The 1783–84 dating corresponds to a period of intense fiscal pressure on the Bombay Presidency following the First Anglo-Maratha War, when the Company was scrambling to stabilize trade flows disrupted by years of campaign expenditure.