Description

The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the whole of the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, and parts of Odisha, Kerala, Karnataka and the union territory of Lakshadweep. The city of Madras was the winter capital of the Presidency and Ootacamund or Ooty, the summer capital.

The Presidency of Madras placed a large order for copper coins with Matthew Boulton's Soho Mint, Birmingham, England in 1802. The denominations to be struck were 20, 10, 5 and 1 cash. It was cheaper to have such a large order of copper coins, some 35 million pieces, struck on Boulton' steam presses and shipped to India, than to have them struck locally. Local production of copper coins continued through the early 1800s with the local coins circulating side by side with the British strikings. The Soho coins were designed by John Phillip and the dies engraved by Conrad Heinrich Kuchler. By 23 May 1803 almost 18 million 1 cash coins had been shipped from London. In Madras they circulated at 40 cash to the fanam and 42 fanam to the pagoda.