Meet the Madhya Pradesh family who loaned ₹35,000 to British govt in 1917 for World War I

109 years later, the Madhya Pradesh family that had attempted to recover the unpaid debt of ₹35,000 dating back to pre-Independence times has received a response from the British government.

At the time, a prominent businessman in Sehore advanced ₹35,000 to WS Davis, the then-political agent in Bhopal under the British Raj. The issue came to light after a third-generation family member claimed that the British had taken a war loan from his grandfather that remains unpaid to this day, PTI reported.

Seth Jumma Lal Ruthia died in 1937, 20 years after giving the loan to the British government, and the colonial rulers left India a decade later in 1947.

UK govt asks for documents

Vivek Ruthia, the grandson of the late businessman Seth Jumma Lal Ruthia, told Times of India (TOI) that his family has received what he believes is the first official response from the UK's Debt Management Office (DMO).

The 63-year-old resident of Sehore said his lawyer received an email seeking copies of the original certificate and related correspondence.

The response has given his family fresh hope of establishing what happened to the money, Ruthia told TOI, adding that his legal team is preparing copies of the 1917 war loan certificate, archival material and correspondence before sending the requested documents.

“I am extremely happy. I never imagined there would be a response at this stage,” Ruthia, for whom the matter is more than money, said.

The Ruthia family said they hope that British authorities will be able to check historical records and establish whether the loan was ever repaid or otherwise settled.

‘Matter of ego’

Vivek Ruthia told TOI that his motivation to recover the Indian War Loan during World War I is no longer simply financial but a “matter of ego” for him.

He argued that if the British administration accepted the money, there should be a record showing what happened to the liability. His family is now looking for an answer on whether the loan was repaid or remains outstanding.

The Ruthia family reportedly kept the old certificate among its papers for decades before the issue was brought back into the spotlight in 2026.

The loan document

As per an alleged certificate circulating on social media, dated 4 June 1917, Seth Jumma Lal of the firm Seth Rama Kishan Jaskaran Ruthia “subscribed ₹35,000 to the Indian War Loan and thereby showed his loyalty to the Government and Empire.”

The alleged document also bears the signature of WS Davis as the Political Agent in Bhopal.

How much is the family owed?

The family, according to TOI, feels that if they calculated a 5.5% interest rate for 109 years (1917-2026), the amount would already rise to crores. If indexed to gold, this would further skyrocket, as the gold price has increased more than 3,000-fold since 1917.

However, it was unclear whether the Ruthia family would get their money back, as complications may arise from the calculations and from the fact that the UK government is no longer ruled by the monarchy.

British government redeemed WWI loan bonds

In 2015, the British government redeemed £1.9 billion in War Loan bonds, representing the final repayment of a large category of UK government borrowing associated with World War I and later obligations.

However, the existence of those historic UK War Loan repayments does not by itself establish that the Ruthia family's specific 1917 Indian War Loan certificate remains payable today. That would require the individual instrument and associated records to be examined.