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Synopsis It is a pleasure and a privilege to be asked to write a Foreword for such a scholarly treatise as that of Prof. Das Gupta’s on Paper Currency in India. The literature of Indian Currency is already rich and has been of late increasing in volume as well as maintanining its quality. The days are gone by when the late Prof. Marshall could say "There are five thousand pages of able reports for the students of India Econommics but no good text books." The last fifteen years have given us quite a number of good and able works on Indian economic topics; and the work of Prof. Das Gupta will form a notable addition to that list. Where the subject treated is so wide and complex, as in the present work, it is only natural tha a few of the opinions expressed in it cannot command my assent; but I admire the general soundness of the exposition.

A monograph on the Paper Currency of such a great and important country as India, was in fact overdue. It is surprising, indedd, why some one out of our of our many well-trained economists did not single out the subject ere this for special treatment. It would appear that even in our days when so many scholars are on the look-out for suitable theses, we can still find, occasionally, an eligible subject seeking an able author. Prof. Das Gupta has seized the opportunity afforded to him by the want of special works on the Indain Paper Currency System and has made the most of it. Apart from the practical importance of such a subject, the rcord of six decades of the working of a Paper Currency System under such special circumstances was, if ably handled, sure to throw light on problems of theory, and our author has not faild to treat his subject in the light of the evolution of monetary theory and practice.