Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 804: Currency Devaluation

'Click!!'

Vijay went back to his study room and started drawing blueprints for the railway track. Vijay decided to use a broad gauge as a general standard for the railway track in the Bharatiya Empire. He decided to use a 1676 mm gauge.

In fact, Vijay could have used the standard gauge, which was a standard railway track throughout the world, but he still stuck with a broad gauge for many reasons. For one, it was the same gauge that was being used in modern India or Pakistan in his previous life. Number two, the broad gauge allowed for trains with more width and more space to travel, meaning the cargo transported by the broad gauge train Is larger in capacity than the standard gauge train. Not to mention, broad gauge trains are more stable and less prone to accidents while being relatively easy to maintain.

The disadvantages were numerous as well since broad gauge tracks cannot handle speeds very well without any modification. At most, they could handle around 200 kilometres per hour. This will not be a problem immediately because the steam trains cannot get up to those speeds, but it will definitely be a problem in the future. Not to mention, broad gauges take a lot more resources to install. Its turning angle is very wide, thereby requiring more distance of track to turn. Additionally, as the load of the train increases, the ground would also need to be more tightly packed in order for it to withstand the compression force put by the train.

As for why Vijay chose the broad gauge while knowing all the disadvantages, it was mainly because he valued the advantages more than the disadvantages. Not to mention, the disadvantages are not without any solution.

The rails could be made continuously welded instead of joints for smoother travel with less vibration. The ballasts can be completely removed. Pre-stressed concrete could be used for sleepers. Higher elevated curves could be added for the train for stability and to turn at high speeds, while better quality steel could be used for the rails. There are other things as well that could be done, like strengthening bridges, adding vibration dampening systems, noise barriers, tunnel design adjustments, and no level crossings that can help with wide gauge railway to be capable of operating trains at more than 300 kilometres per hour. In fact, these adjustments were actually made in his previous life, and it was only after that the Vande Bharat Express was able to operate.

The only problem is that it costs more, but he was not worried in this timeline because Bharat is bound to be the most prosperous nation in the world, and being a nation that, in his opinion, will be totally dependent on manufacturing and exports, the best internal logistic network is no less than intercontinental missile technology in the 21st century.

With that being said, with these modifications, the railway network of the Bharatiya Empire will be able to carry a lot more load while not compromising on speed or safety.

Finally, writing down all the details, Vijay quickly folded the paper and sent it to Ganesh to post it out.

If Vijay is being completely honest, there was another alternative for the railway system that he actually considered, which was the monorail—trains that only run on a single rail, like a bicycle.

They had several advantages going for them. For example, they had a smaller footprint, lower noise, lower risk of derailment, they could handle steeper inclines, they cost less to construct, the construction time was extremely fast, the speeds were extremely fast, and they could adapt very well to urban areas. But in the end, he chose to stick with the traditional railway track.

Monorail trains had their advantages, but their disadvantages were the ones that made them go extinct, and almost no country uses them. For example, the switching of their rails is more complicated, the operating costs are very high, the parts used in monorails are more complex, thereby requiring more professional companies to make the parts, thereby making it more costly. What's more, trains built on monorails could be very narrow, thereby defeating the whole purpose of him wanting to establish a railway network in the empire for the transportation of both people and goods.

"Sigh!"

Vijay relaxed as he leaned on his chair and let out a breath of air.

The reason why he suddenly wanted to start constructing the railway track was because several iron, coal, and gold mines had been discovered in the Overseas territories of the Bharatiya Empire after preliminary exploration.

In Central Africa, iron and coal had been discovered in four different places, all open-pit mines with capacities over hundreds of thousands of tons.

There are a few gold mines that have been discovered in three different locations around the newly constructed frontiers in Central Africa as well.

In Southeast Asia, two gold mines have been discovered in Malaysia. Amazingly enough, five gold mines have been discovered in Indonesia, with gold mixed with copper in some places and silver in others, all open-pit gold mines easily accessible, along with an open-pit coal mine in eastern Kalimantan and southern Kalimantan.

Open-pit gold mines of small deposits have also been discovered in Timor Lussy.

Three gold mines have been discovered in Papua New Guinea as well.

As for Australia, the exploration was only done in the coastal region, but still, nine different mines have been discovered for gold, iron, and copper.

With all these resources, Vijay felt like it was the right time to install the railway tracks, as the railway track would require over 120 tons of steel for a kilometre of railway track. Not to mention, it takes several tons of steel for rail fastenings, turnout switches, and other parts built for the railway track.

In an era where some small countries' annual production of iron is only at 20 to 30 thousand tons, putting all the iron and steel output into railway tracks was never smart. So Vijay had only started to clear out the path and lay down the gravel for the track to be constructed and had not manufactured the railings. But now, with so many iron mines being discovered and while mining technologies are very improved, he does not have to worry about a shortage of materials anymore. Instead, manufacturing of rails could actually provide hundreds of thousands of jobs, and it could directly push the Bharatiya Empire one step forward.

Vijay only rested for a few moments because he had one more thing he had to do. He rang the bell that was on his table and called Ganesh over.

"Summon Jagannath Mohan, and Dharmendra for me."

"Yes, right away, Your Majesty."

---

Minister of Finance Jagannath Mohan and Director of the Reserve Bank of Bharat Dharmendra soon arrived at the Simhasana Bhavana and were seated in front of Vijay.

Vijay did not beat around the bush; he directly got to the point. "There is 150 tons of gold worth of monetary currency in circulation in the empire, yes?"

Jagannath Mohan and Dharmendra looked at each other in doubt as they could not understand why His Majesty was asking this question all of a sudden, but they nodded.

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"Good. Mohan, apart from the gold in the treasury of the Reserve Bank, how much gold is in the empire's treasury?"

Jagannath Mohan thought for a while and immediately replied, "There haven't been any new projects lately, Your Majesty, so we didn't have to spend a lot of money on anything. Even due to the privatization of schools and colleges, we have earned a lot of money. Apart from the gold which we need for operations of the government as well as money needed for subsidies, we have 60 tons of gold that can be used immediately."

Vijay thought about it and nodded. "Immediately transfer 40 tons of gold to the Reserve Bank's treasury."

"Dharmendra, have the Monetary Press of Bharat start printing the currency."

Vijay thought about it and felt that it would not be right to consider all the gold that is mined in overseas territories as private property so he came up with a solution

"The gold is being mined in the overseas territories. Half of it can be considered as government property, while the remaining can be considered as the royal family loaning it to the Reserve Bank until the reserve of gold in the bank reaches 300 tons, after which the gold should be paid back to the royal family within a decade, without any interest."

Jagannath Mohan and Dharmendra immediately agreed to this because all the gold that was being mined in the overseas territories could be considered the assets of the royal family, since the explorers who found the gold mines were employed by the royal family. Since the government would not be running any personal businesses, the mining rights had also been purchased by the royal family. They would be stressed after His Majesty loaned all the money to the government, but now that he said that part of it would be the property of the government, they let out a sigh of relief, as they would not have to burden the government a lot.

"Currency worth 150 tons of gold can be newly printed, making the total currency in circulation in the empire worth 300 tons of gold."

"With this, 13.24 billion Varaha of currency should be in circulation in the market, correct?"

Jagannath Mohan and Dharmendra both did the calculations in their minds and nodded. "Correct, Your Majesty."

"Good. But still, in order to make our products more competitive as well as to improve the health of our internal economy, the Varaha is still too costly. Over the next 5 years, the value of Varaha should drop by 50%."

Jagannath Mohan and Dharmendra were both shocked. Not even in their wildest dreams would they have imagined that His Majesty would give such an order. looking at their expressions, Vijay knew that they were confused as to why he gave such an order, but he did not give any reply since it involved his future plans for globalization of the Varaha.

This was the best course of action Vijay could think of in order to make the Varaha a global currency similar to pounds sterling during the Industrial Revolution and the dollar during the modern age of the 21st century. Although even after devaluating the Varaha by 50%, the Varaha would still be 50% more valuable than the dollar, it was still manageable as its value would be closer to pound sterling, and in the future it would not be a problem to reach the value of a dollar after the Varaha is decoupled from gold and attached to whatever fuel is running the industry in the future.

"Devaluation does not have to be done rapidly like we did in the last devaluation initiative, which brought the value down to 150 Varaha per 3.4 grams of gold."

"Instead, I need it to be done by the end of the decade, meaning I need the 300 tons of gold in the Reserve Bank Treasury to be worth around 19.85 billion Varaha in circulated currency instead of 13.24."

Thinking of something, Vijay's expression turned serious. "The inflation should be controlled to a manageable level. It cannot be higher than the growth of GDP. You have a lot of space for operation since the average growth of the Empire's GDP is more than 20%, and controlling the devaluation of currency by 10% for the next five years shouldn't raise a lot of concerns. But this also means mistakes are unacceptable."

"In severe cases, I may even have to declare a financial emergency and take matters into my own hands."

Dharmendra and Jagannath Mohan's faces turned tense. The threat of His Majesty was really sharp, but they could also understand what was at stake.

The Bharatiya Empire currently is not like the past Bharatiya Empire when Dharmendra devalued the currency. This time, the power of capitalism is a lot more developed. Mohan is certain that if the government makes a mistake in strategically devaluing the currency, it is certain that they would be kicked off from their positions and a new election would have to be held.

Dharmendra and Jagannath Mohan both understood the seriousness of the matter and nodded.