If you go through the 2015 RBI report on the trends in currency, you will find that the value of all coins in circulation in the Indian economy (as of Mar 2015) was ₹ 194 billion. That might sound much, but it only makes up for 1.34% of the total currency in circulation.
There doesn't seem to be any reliable data on how many coins are thrown in water bodies every year, but even assuming 5% of the total coins in circulation, the figure comes to around ₹ 9.7 billion, which might again look like an astronomical figure, but is meagre one hundreths of a percent of India's GDP.
And one last point: Not all coins thrown away are lost. Most of these are recovered by poor kids, divers, and fisherfolk, giving rise to an interesting industry.
One youth at the Pushkar Ghat on Sunday morning tied a set of magnets and cast them into the water to retrieve the coins. "We can't do it in the open because of the police," the youth, who was collecting the coins, told TOI. Asked about how many coins were collected during the day, he said, "We were able to collect about Rs 4,000 since today morning." Elaborating, he said, "Usually, we get small amounts because people travelling by train throw coins into the river, but the last five days has been very good." He said, "We are sure that there will be many more coins to collect even after the Pushkaram is over."
(Source: Fisherfolk get busy collecting coins from Godavari - Times of India)
22-year-old Sartaj Ahmed has been in the profession of coin-diving for the past 6 years. The brave young man says he started diving when he was just a boy, but it was only when he turned 18 that he began hunting for coins. "Some days I get 100-200 rupees but on lucky days, I can find small trinkets. I have even found a gold ring once." 34-year-old Sajad Ahmed has been at it for 20 long years. He says it gets harder and harder each other, but they really do not have any other choice. 21-year-old Amit Kumar, who's been doing this for 10 years, says, "We dive into the river and collect coins, brass, copper, sometimes even silver and gold." Diving for coins is the only source of his daily income. "What can be done, I have to do something for my living. We live here so we keep diving here." Vicky, another young diver, says, "I dive and normally take home money for my daily expenses." Raju says that he prefers coin diving because he doesn't like working for a boss.
(Source: The Indian Coin Divers of Yamuna River | Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities)
And this sort of behavior isn't specific to India. Throwing coins into fountains and wishing wells has been practiced all over the world as an offering to the goods, as a method to purify water (with copper coins), and as a harbinger of good luck.
People have been throwing coins into fountains seemingly as long as there have been coins and fountains. The tradition all started with water. Water, of course, is vital to sustain human life. While many people in the developed world today have clean, drinkable water readily available from their kitchen taps, this was not always the case. Potable drinking holes in many regions weren't the easiest things to find. Thus, where clean water was available, many early European tribes believed that such areas were a gift from the gods.
Probably one of the most famous examples of a wishing fountain is the Trevi Fountain in Rome. The Trevi Fountain was built as the ending point of a 21 kilometre long aqueduct called Virgo, named for the goddess who would guide soldiers to water when they were thirsty and tired. Originally, tossing a coin in or taking a drink from the fountain was supposed to ensure good health. Eventually, the tradition evolved to what we know today: if you toss a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, you will one day return to Rome.
This idea was popularized in the 1954 film Three Coins in the Fountain, which also suggested that if you throw two coins in, you'll fall in love with a Roman, and if you throw three coins in, you'll marry him or her. Since the movie, this practice has become so popular with tourists that it's estimated that around €3,000 in coins are thrown in the fountain every day.
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Anurag Singal
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