1 Rupee

Ceylon's Government of India Act obligations meant the rupee note series issued here was technically a subsidiary of the broader Indian monetary framework — the Government of Ceylon only gained fuller independent currency authority after 1949 with the establishment of the Central Bank. This 1941 note sits in that ambiguous interregnum, issued by a colonial administration whose monetary policy was still closely tied to Wartime India's financing pressures.

Thomas De La Rue printed the series in London under wartime conditions, when paper and ink supplies were under allocation controls. Disruption to shipping routes between Britain and Colombo made distribution of printed notes a genuine logistical problem during 1941–42.