Zimbabwe Currency Vs. India

These two third-world countries' currencies have taken very different paths since each nation attained independence. Although the Indian rupee has come a long way on a bumpy road to reach its current stability, its path looks gentle and easy when compared to the incredible turmoil of the Zimbabwe dollar's history and dire present state.

The Zimbabwe Dollar

Zimbabwe's national currency since 1980 was the Zimbabwe dollar, written with the symbol Z$. Like the U.S. dollar, one unit divided into 100 cents, although with the currency's high inflation, these smaller units were rarely used for purchasing.

Hyperinflation of the Zimbabwe Dollar

In the early 21st century, hyperinflation caused the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to redenominate the value of the dollar three times, shifting it by three to 12 decimal places in an effort to stem the currency's worthlessness. Government regulations attempted to halt the problem by outlawing inflation and punishing business for raising prices, but this did not succeed in fixing the problem. Inflation rates continued to soar into the hundreds of thousands of percentage points until the currency was abandoned shortly after the introduction of the Z$100 trillion note.

Zimbabwe Currency Today

Since the Zimbabwe dollar was suspended indefinitely on April 12, 2009, other currencies have taken its place. Whereas it was outlawed for many years, all Zimbabweans can now use the US dollar, the South African rand, the pound sterling, the euro or the Botswana pula as currency.

The Indian Rupee

India's national currency is the Indian Rupee (INR), written as Rs or IRs. One rupee divides into 100 paise (a singular unit is called a paisa). Although exchange rates shift slightly from day to day, the Indian rupee represents a relatively stable currency where one US dollar has been roughly equal to anywhere from 45 to 50 rupees. Large sums of rupees are called lakhs and crores, the former meaning one hundred thousand and the latter signifying 10 million rupees.

Exchange Rates

Current conversion rates between the redenominated Z$ and the INR can be found at www.xe.com. But since most Zimbabweans opt to use other currencies for convenience's sake, exchange rates from US dollars and South African rand to INR are at least as useful.

References

• Zimbabwe Abandons its Currency
• Telegraph: Final Humiliation for the Zimbabwe Dollar
• Exchange Rates: US Dollars (USD) to 1 Indian Rupee (INR)

Resources

• Current Exchange Rates