The Seychelles rupee
Currency · SCR · 1 country
The Central Bank of Seychelles is the only institution mandated to issue notes and coins in Seychelles rupees, a currency of 100 cents that Seychellois Creole calls the roupi. Its current family, issued on 5 December 2016, shows plants and animals found only on the islands. The first notes, in 1914, were worth their face value in Indian rupees.
No sign of its own
The rupee has no sign of its own in the locale data. The Central Bank of Seychelles writes the code before the figure, as in SCR500. The rupee is officially abbreviated R, and SR is sometimes used to keep it apart from the South African rand, which is also written R.
- ISO code
- SCR
- ISO number
- 690
- Subunit
- cent, 1/100
An amount, written out
SCR 1,234.50
- SCR 1,234.50English
- SR 1,234.50EnglishSeychelles
Where the Seychellois rupee is the official currency
Seychelles uses the rupee, sometimes written SR to keep it apart from the South African rand, which is abbreviated R as well.
About the Seychellois rupee
Who has issued the rupee since the colony
The Paper Currency Ordinance of 1914, authorised by the British Legislative Council, set up a Board of Commissioners of Currency for the colony, and the government produced emergency notes that year for 50 cents and 1, 5 and 10 rupees. They were worth their face value in Indian rupees, although the Seychelles currency counted in decimal cents. Regular notes followed from 1918. The 50 cent and 1 rupee notes gave way to coins after 1951, and the 5 rupee note became a coin in 1972.
After independence the Seychelles Monetary Authority took over paper money in 1976 and replaced every colonial note. The Central Bank of Seychelles assumed full responsibility in 1979. It now issues fresh notes and coins, reissues used ones still fit to circulate and withdraws the rest, and it redeems money that has stopped being legal tender. In 1989 Seychellois Creole text was added to the notes, which had been printed in English only.
How the rupee's anchor has moved
In 1936 the rupee was fixed at one shilling and sixpence, 13⅓ rupees to the pound. Britain's decimalisation in 1971 turned that into 7½ new pence. The sterling peg lasted until November 1979. The rupee was then tied to a fixed basket that held the US dollar, sterling, the South African rand, the Singapore dollar and the yen along with three European currencies, which the euro replaced in 1999. In November 2008 the rupee was devalued and floated.
What the biodiversity series shows
The Central Bank of Seychelles issued its present family of notes and coins on 5 December 2016 under a theme that calls the islands' unique biodiversity the backbone of their economy. It has four notes, of 25, 50, 100 and 500 rupees, and seven coins: 1, 5, 10 and 25 cents and 1, 5 and 10 rupees. Across the whole series, from three suppliers, 35 endemic species appear.
The coin designs had not changed since 1982. The new ones, made with the Royal Mint, share waving lines taken from the national flag, and the 1, 5 and 10 rupee coins name their plant or animal in English, Seychellois Creole and French along the left edge. The 10 rupee value used to be a note. It is now a shaped, two-coloured coin, and tilting it shows either the letters CBS or the value in words. The 1 and 5 rupee coins kept their old sizes, and so did the cent coins struck by the South African Mint, so that people would not confuse old and new. Blind and partially sighted users welcomed how different the coins feel.
The notes of 7 June 2011 carried a hawksbill turtle watermark and a holographic sailfish. The central bank demonetised the 500 and 100 rupee notes of that series on 30 June 2017 and the 50 rupee note on 15 February 2018. Only the central bank exchanges them now, at face value.
Common questions
Questions about the Seychellois rupee
What does SR mean on a price in Seychelles?
It stands for Seychelles rupee. The official abbreviation is R, but the South African rand is written R as well, so SR is sometimes used to tell the two apart. The central bank itself writes the ISO code, as in SCR100.
When did the 10 rupee note become a coin?
With the new family of 5 December 2016. The 10 rupee value had been a banknote until then; the central bank replaced it with a shaped, two-coloured coin that carries a latent image, showing the letters CBS at one angle and the value in words at another. The visually impaired community said the shaped coin would help them in daily life.
Can old Seychelles banknotes still be exchanged?
Yes, but only at the Central Bank of Seychelles and only at face value. Notes the bank has withdrawn are no longer legal tender and should not be accepted in shops. The 500 and 100 rupee notes of the 2011 series were demonetised on 30 June 2017 and the 50 rupee note on 15 February 2018.
Why does Seychelles call its money a rupee?
When the colonial government issued its first notes in 1914, under the Paper Currency Ordinance, they were worth their face value in Indian rupees, even though the Seychelles money was already counted in decimal cents. The Board of Commissioners of Currency set up by that ordinance issued regular notes from 1918. In Seychellois Creole the currency is the roupi, and several other currencies are also called rupee.