Council bills became one of India's main methods of remittance in 1862 and were unique; other Empire countries moved funds to the UK via commercial bills of exchange through the agency of local or UK banks. They were issued for a number of reasons. The most important was to allow the Indian government to remit to Britain the money needed to meet a variety of commitments, commonly known as the home charges, without the despatch of gold. Total expenditure on these various outlays amounted to £920.94m from 1879/80 to 1925/6, to which should be added the £133m spent on the purchase of silver for the minting of coins. The charges were much resented. Critics argued that they were excessive and that their payment increased taxation, reduced demand and had a strong deflationary impact on the economy.

The largest and most controversial component was the loan interest and Sinking Fund payments made, and the annuities purchased on behalf of the various guaranteed railway and irrigation companies, which from 1879/80 to 1925/6 accounted for 36.6 per cent (£337.46m) of total expenditure (Figure 7). Private companies built railways from 1849 to 1869 and 1882 to 1924.