An anna was a currency unit formerly used in British India, equal to of a rupee. It was subdivided into four Paisa or twelve pies. When the rupee was decimalised and subdivided into 100 paise, one anna was therefore equivalent to 6.25 paise. The term belonged to the Islamic monetary system. The anna was demonetised as a currency unit when India decimalised its currency in 1957, followed by Pakistan in 1961. It was replaced by the 5-paise coin, which was itself discontinued in 1994 and demonetised in 2011. Despite this, a 50-paise coin is still sometimes colloquially referred to as 8 annas today, with a 25-paise coin nicknamed 4 annas. The term anna is frequently used to express a fraction of. There was a coin of one anna, and also half-anna coins of copper and two-anna pieces of silver. With the rupee having been valued to 1s 6d and weighing 180 grains as a 916.66 fine silver coin, the anna was equivalent to 9/8 d. Hence the 2 anna silver coins were of low weight. Anna-denominated postage stamps were issued during the British Raj by the government of British India as well as by several princely states, and after independence until decimalisation of the currency by India and Pakistan.
Notation
The first number is the number of rupees, the second is the number of annas, the third is the number of paise, and the fourth is the number of pies. Examples are below.
The first 1 Anna coin in British India was introduced in 1907, 72 years after the introduction of uniform coinage. The Indian Coinage Act of 1906 provided for a 1 anna coin of copper-nickel. This was an attempt to simplify commercial transactions - prior to this, there were silver coins for 2 anna and above, and there were copper coins of 1/4 anna, with no intermediate denominations. This was also an attempt to reduce the use of precious metals for coinage purposes. The first 1 anna coins were issued during the reign of Edward VII, followed by coins of similar design for George V & George VI. In 1942, the copper-nickel coin was changed to nickel-bronze due to shortage of nickel caused by the World War II.
