Explanation:

• The Indian Currency Committee or Fowler Committee was a committee appointed by the British in 1898 to examine the currency situation in India. The committee was chaired by Sir Henry Fowler.
• Until 1892, silver was the metal on which Indian currency and coinage had largely been based. The committee recommended that the official Indian rupee be based on the gold standard and the official exchange rate of the rupee be established at 15 rupees per British sovereign, or 1 shilling and 4 pence per rupee. The British Imperial Government accepted the recommendations of the commission in July 1899.
• The action of the government in abandoning silver coinage was driven by the relative decline of the value of silver against gold, which had led to an accompanying decline of the rupee against gold and gold-based currencies such as the British sovereign. India had been importing about a quarter of the annual global production of silver, in part to meet its currency issuing requirements.
• Artificially fixing the exchange rate of Rupee at such a high rate negatively impacted the Indian capitalists, and this step was resented by the Congress.