Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Anglo-Ind.) four rupees.

1842		Bellew Memoirs of a Griffin in Asiatic Jrnl Jan. 48: ‘I don’t sport gold mohurs; say five chicks, and it’s a bet.’ [footnote] Chick or sequin, four rupees.
1853		Delhi Sketch Bk 1 Sept. 60/2: You owe me a chick, as the hen said the the addled egg.
1861		Hills & Plains I 36: ‘Ten to one in “chicks” they are married before the hot winds’.
1875		Dilemma cap. x: ‘Can’t do much harm by losing twenty chicks,’ observewd the Colonel in Anglo-Indian argot.