Question
Why was the twenty paise Indian coin unpopular?
Answer
This doesn't show the later aluminum hexagon that was reasonably commonly used.
The basic reason is inflation. When I was a kid, you'd still occasionally find 1 paisa coins (quite exciting). 5p, 10p were common kid/beggar change. By the early 90s, nothing less than a rupee was worth anything. Indian retailers never adopted the fractional pricing psychology because the coins were increasingly an annoyance and rare, and this in turn helped kill them.
Another reason specific to the 20p is that when the old 16 anna = 1 rupee system was turned into the decimal system, 4 and 8 anna coins were naturally ported to 25 and 50p. 1, 2, 3 annas were dropped since theyd have ported to fractional paise.
This made 20 too close to 25, and since nobody wanted the annoying square 5p coins, most sellers chose the more familiar 25p price point (in Hindi, 25p, 50p are still called their old anna names: chavanni, athanni... 4 and 8 annas).
As an aside, it still boggles my mind that the US still keeps the penny around. Sheer waste of metal, scourge on pockets. We should just abandon the damn 0.99 pricing psychology trick.
The basic reason is inflation. When I was a kid, you'd still occasionally find 1 paisa coins (quite exciting). 5p, 10p were common kid/beggar change. By the early 90s, nothing less than a rupee was worth anything. Indian retailers never adopted the fractional pricing psychology because the coins were increasingly an annoyance and rare, and this in turn helped kill them.
Another reason specific to the 20p is that when the old 16 anna = 1 rupee system was turned into the decimal system, 4 and 8 anna coins were naturally ported to 25 and 50p. 1, 2, 3 annas were dropped since theyd have ported to fractional paise.
This made 20 too close to 25, and since nobody wanted the annoying square 5p coins, most sellers chose the more familiar 25p price point (in Hindi, 25p, 50p are still called their old anna names: chavanni, athanni... 4 and 8 annas).
As an aside, it still boggles my mind that the US still keeps the penny around. Sheer waste of metal, scourge on pockets. We should just abandon the damn 0.99 pricing psychology trick.