The period between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries was marked by remarkable stability in the availability of metal currency, particularly the silver rupya in India. What was the reason behind it?

Expansion of trade

The correct answer is Option 1 - Expansion of trade

The period between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries was marked by remarkable stability in the availability of metal currency, particularly the silver rupya in India mainly because of the expansion in trade.

Voyages of discovery and the opening up of the New World resulted in a massive expansion of Asia’s (particularly India’s) trade with Europe. An expanding trade brought in huge amounts of silver bullion into Asia to pay for goods procured from India, and a large part of that bullion gravitated towards India. This was good for India as it did not have the natural resources of silver.