Description

French India, formally the Établissements français dans l'Inde ("French establishments in India"), was a French colony comprising geographically separate enclaves on the Indian subcontinent. The possessions were originally acquired by the French East India Company beginning in the second half of the 17th century, and were de facto incorporated into the Union of India in 1950 and 1954. The French establishments included Pondicherry, Karikal and Yanaon on the Coromandel Coast, Mahé on the Malabar Coast and Chandernagor in Bengal. French India also included several loges ("lodges", subsidiary trading stations) in other towns, but after 1816, the loges had little commercial importance and the towns to which they were attached came under British administration.

The French East India Company established town Pondicherry as their headquarters in 1674. The town was separated by a canal into the French Quarter and the Indian Quarter. The French control remained until 1954 (de jure 1962), when it was incorporated into the Indian Union along with the rest of French India.

French Indian Rupee was issued as coins with the Roupie divided into 8 Fanons, each of 3 Doudous or 20 Cash.