Underweight 1/4 Anna 1889 Queen Victoria

The quarter anna is the same size as the English half pence except for weight. The half pence is lighter.

I would wonder if the Indian mints of Bombay and Calcutta rolled their own stock for planchets or would the finished planchets shipped from The Royal Mint along with completed coins?

I do not know much about the internal working procedures of the India mints, but off site planchet manufacture is a rather typical cost saving procedure.

This could be a switched planchet.

Also in 1889 the actual value of the bronze in a coin was not a serious issue so a simple rolling error could be responsible for some underweight planchets being made.

No, this is the first of the type I have, but if I chance upon another BU piece I just might try to get it. Although I personally have a QEII sixpence that's thinner than normal. Don't know how thick this 1/4 Anna should be though..

Now that you mention it, this coin does weigh pretty much exactly as a 1/2 Penny, although I haven't measured its diameter. Perhaps it was struck on a 1/2 Penny planchet after all!