Until beginning of last century Minting operations were carried out in various DARUZ-ZARAB in the country. These private Mints were operated by Omara's (wealthy men) , Sahukars Businessmen) and Jagirdars (Counts). They had to pay a huge fee to Royal Exchequer in order to obtain license for minting coins. They used to strike coins with the name of Emperor in Delhi, then added FIDVI with inscription of their own QITAAB (Title) followed by the word YAR-E-WAFADAR Trusted follower). A typical example was that Peston , Miherji, a Bombay Sahukar who was licensed by Diwan Chandulal to strike coins in Aurangabad. These coins were famous as Peston Sahi coins.

First Royal Mint was established under Nawab Sikandar Jah, the third Nizam of Asaf Jahi dynasty in 1803 A D (1212 Fasli, 1218 Hizri) at a place called Sultan Sahi near Mogalpura, Charminar in Hyderabad. Royal Mint operated along side other private Mints which produced coins in the name of Emperor similar to mentioned earlier. In 1839 it was shifted to another place called Darush-Shifa in old city. This building still exists and is used by Quli Qutub Shah urban development Authority.

If they were too heavy, they were trimmed by chisel and in case of too light, extra pieces of metal were hammered in. The blanks were washed with tamarind and struck on a big stone - one die being let into the stone and other being placed near blank. Every die was hard engraved from steel. There was neither master die nor any provision for duplication. Hence dies differed in size and results were very crude, only partial inscription frequently appearing on a coin. Inscription from an actual coin is produced below. The system of various private Mints gave rise to the problem of various dimensions, alloys in the coin which made trading very difficult and it also gave rise to considerable deviations of the metal content. The changes in composition of alloy became more pronounced in 1857 in the region of Napa Nair-Double. Then all private Mints were abolished and Royal Mint became only authorized institution of its kind in the State. Thereafter public were permitted to bring their own bullion to the Mint for conversion into coin on payment of Seignorage. Seignorage was charged at the rate of two rupees per sample gold coin and per 100 silver coins. The practice was discontinued in 1901 partly on account of difficulty involved in assaying and partly in order to concentrate all Minting profits to the Government.

Halli Sicca Coins : In 1858, after Mutiny and dissolution of Moghul Empire by British, all Mints through out India were abolished except those of a few privileged states like Nizams and two Government of India Mints in Bombay and Calcutta. Coins then produced ceased to carry the name of Emperor in Delhi no longer. Instead coins of Hyderabad Royal Mint were inscribed with the initial letter of Nizam as well as name of Dynasty and the numeral 92. The number has a religious significance and represents the sum of the symbolic numbers of the letters in the prophets’ name. These coins were known as Halli Sicca meaning current coins. These coins were produced in Darush-Shifa Mint and the quality was more or less similar to earlier coins.
Charkhi Coins : (Means machine made Coins) In 1895, machinery was first introduced and a new class of coins known as Charkhi (Wheel) made its appearance. A fascimile of charkhi’s rupee coin is produced below from which it will be seen that it is a great technical improvement upon its hand made predecessors.

SAIFABADMINT : In 1903, the whole process of minting was overhauled on the lines of European Mints and the Mint was moved to Saifabad besides the State Secretariat.
MODERN SERIES : A new series of coins known as “Mahbubia Sicca” bearing the initial of then Nizam Mahbub Ali Khan made their appearance at the early stages of Saifabad Mint in the following denomination :


 

1 Rupee, 8 Annas, 4 Annas, 2 Annas in Silver and 6 Pie and 2 Pie in Bronze are produced Apart from that, Gold Ashrafi, 1/2 Ashrafi, 1/4 Ashrafi and 1/8 Asharafi were also produced They were, however, not used in general circulation. Later these coins came to be known as Osmania Sicca, when new Nizam Osman Ali Khan acceded the throne in 1911. These coins are 1st Modern Series coins. Their specification such as size, alloys, weights were very pucca (Specific). A Currency Act was also notified in 1911, bearing exact specifications of coins for use as a legal tender. During 1st World War (1914-1918) silver cost went up considerably and all lower denomination silver coin below Rupee were replaced by Nickel & Copper coins simultaneously. Paper Currency Act was introduced in 1918 by which Rs. 10, Rs. 100 notes were introduced. Initially these notes were printed and imported from a place called waterloo in U.K. Later these notes were obtained from Government of India Currency Note Press, Nasik.

During this period due to rise of prices of bullion metals, the Mint had to switch over to Q.A. And Nickel Coins are replaced by CN and Bronze Alloys.

Due to the circumstances prevailing, it was decided to print notes in the Mint on paper which was made available by the State from the Government central press adjoining to the Mint. A new section was setup for cutting and numbering these notes to the extent of 3 lakh/day.

In 1948, the State of Hyderabad came under the control of Government of India. The Nina of Hyderabad was made Raja Primacy. Minting of Omani Sickka was continued in Saifabad Mint until middle of fifties. Thereafter Government of India introduced decimal coin in 1957 soon manufacturing of 1 Paisa , 2 Paisa, 3 Paisa, 5 Paisa, 10 Paisa,, 25 Paisa and 50 Paisa were taken up. Administratively, Hyderabad Mint was under control of Bombay Mint from 1948 to 1962 until Shri B.S. Ayer took charge of Hyderabad Mint as Master of Mint. Thereafter Hyderabad mint functioned independently and reported directly to Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs, under Government of India, New Delhi. Over the years there were many changes on machinery as well as coinage alloys. A second shift in night was introduced into enhance production. The strength of staff and workmen rose to nearly 1200. The production touched 2.0 million pieces per day. Initially lower denomination unto 50 paisa was struck in Hyderabad Mint. Slowly with increase in demand of higher denomination, Hyderabad Mint took up production of Rs. 5, Rs. 2 and Rs. 1 etc. on par with other Mints and as a result Mint had to handle large volume of metal. Present space was found to be inadequate with more metal and men. The old machinery also was required to be replaced and technology was required to be upgraded in line of modern trend in the world to churn out more and better quality of coins. In 1991 Government of India decided to go for ambitious modernization programme for all three Mints at Bombay, Calcutta and Hyderabad. As the space in the present Mint was not sufficient it was then decided to build a New Mint in a different location and to shift all the activities from Saifabad to new place. Accordingly a new Mint was set up with new advanced machinery at Cherlapally on 20th August 1997. Subsequently, all the operations were shifted to Cherlapally. Presently, production at both Saifabad and Cherlapally Mints are being maintained.

The Mint at Cherlapally is one of the Asia’s biggest Mint with modern technology making it one of the most advanced manufacturers of circulation coins and medals in India along with old Mint which is having a reputation for reliability, quality and innovation since 100 years. Besides coinage production, Hyderabad Mint proposed to produce different commemorative and development-oriented coins In addition to minting all of India’s coins, the Hyderabad Mint supplies coin blanks to other Mints in India and capable of supplying blanks and coins to other countries throughout the world.