4 Annas - Sayaji Rao III

Sayaji Rao III came to power as a child under British-supervised regency and proved to be among the most reform-minded rulers in the princely states — funding public libraries, abolishing child marriage, and introducing compulsory primary education in Baroda decades before such measures were common elsewhere in India. His coinage from the 1890s reflects a state with genuine administrative ambitions rather than mere ceremonial autonomy. Baroda maintained its own mint and monetary system under the paramountcy framework, issuing rupee-fraction pieces that circulated locally alongside British India coinage.