Telecom companies revive value of the Indian paisa Economic Times
Visiting us during her vacations, Manjari, my teenage niece, asked me if I would help her with a summer project. I agreed. It involved the study of coins. The curious kid wanted to know what a one-paisa coin looked like. Her next question: "What can one paisa buy?"We were amused as to why a teacher would give a "one paisa" project when the cheapest toffee costs 50 paisa, or around one cent. Manjari's search into the shape, size, and metallic content of one paisa coin landed her at the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) monetary museum. She learnt that over a period of time, the cost-benefit considerations led to a gradual discontinuance of 1, 2 and 3 paisa coins in 1970s.
Then came a discovery of sorts. There was something that was worth a paisa -- offered by the burgeoning, yet highly competitive, Indian telecom industry. For just one paisa, one can talk to someone in the farthest corner of India for one second, or send an SMS of 160 characters to any one of the 600 million