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Metrication, or the conversion to a measurement system based on theInternational System of Units (SI), occurred inIndia in stages between 1955 and 1962. The metric system in weights and measures was adopted by theIndian Parliament in December 1956 with theStandards of Weights and Measures Act, which took effect beginning 1 October 1958. TheIndian Coinage Act was passed in 1955 by the Government of India to introduce decimal coinage in the country. The new system of coins became legal tender in April 1957, where therupee consists of 100 paise. For the next five years, both the old and new systems were legal. In April 1962, all other systems were banned. This process of metrication is called "big-bang" route, which is to simultaneously outlaw the use of pre-metric measurement, metricate, reissue all government publications and laws, and change the education systems to metric.
India's conversion was quicker than that of many other countries, including its coloniser, theUnited Kingdom. This was helped by low popularliteracy and the fact that there was previously no nationwide standard measurement system—Britishimperial units were used by the upper class, while various regional systems were used by the poor.[citation needed] The Indian model was extremely successful and served later as a model for metrication in various African and Asian countries.
TheNational Physical Laboratory of India, located in New Delhi, is designated the maintainer ofSI units in India. It also calibrates the national standards of weights and measures.
Before metrication, the government of India followed theIndian Weights and Measures Act passed in 1870 which used the British imperial system. However, many otherindigenous systems were in use in other parts of the country and this was a constant problem with government officials and the public at large.
Phanindranath Seth was the founder and secretary of the Indian Decimal Society, whose aim it was to push for the introduction of the metric system in India. P. N. Seth was assisted by others in the society, such as professorsDr Hirallal Roy,Dr Sisir Kumar Mitra, andPrasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, and other leading Indian scientists. Since 1930, they advocated for discarding the old chaotic system by writing in newspapers, journals, participating in debates and distributing literature.
During the post-WWII interim government, there were attempts to introduce some standardisation in weights and measures but the conservative section of the ruling party never allowed it to be passed. Then, outstanding scientific personalities and public figures were mobilised by the Indian Decimal Society. P. N. Seth put forward a scheme for metrication of currency on 17 January 1944, which was finally adopted in the Indian Parliament in 1955.
Today, themetric system serves as the primary standard for all official measurements in India and its use is mandated by theLegal Metrology Act, 2009, though in everyday usage, Indians may still refer toimperial units.[1][2]