Letters: Time to drop the paise

The cut in the selling prices of petrol and diesel by 4 paise and 3 paise respectively by public sector oil marketing companies on February 1 has drawn more ridicule than acceptance or praise. Earlier too, a couple of revisions in fuel prices were in the quantum of paise only.

Coins of denomination 25 paise and below have been withdrawn from the market and 50 paise coins have also been pushed out of circulation. In these circumstances, the government and the Reserve Bank of India should consider officially stopping the minting of coins of denominations below one rupee and guide the market to fall in line by pricing all products in rupee terms only.

Now that the US dollar is accepted as the name of the currency in international markets and we are in the process of "branding" India, the government could consider introducing an "Indian New Rupee" whose worth would be the current value of Rs 50 or so. This could be named the Indian Dollar or the Bharat Chakra or any other attractive name could be fixed after conducting a competition.

M G Warrier Mumbai

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