First BD banknote issued in Mar 1972

The first bank note of independent Bangladesh was introduced on March 4 in 1972 by issuing a currency of one taka denomination. The note was inscribed with the map of Bangladesh and it was printed in Indian Security Printing Press. The note was also designed by the same press.

Banknotes of Taka 5 and 100 denominations were also introduced on March 4, 1972 while the note of 10-Taka denomination was issued on May 2 in 1972. Those banknotes were inscribed with the portrait of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The first metal coin was issued in the country on July 15 in 1973. It was a coin of one-paisa denomination. The coin was procured from abroad.  Curator Takar Jadhughar (Currency Museum) Dr Asiya Khanam said bank notes and coins were introduced quickly as part of economic reforms after the independence.

Some steps, including keeping security shadow were not followed during printing of banknotes in a hurry in India.Those notes were cancelled on March 30 in 1974 as those did not get acceptance in absence of security shadow and the use of English language.

In the second series, banknotes were printed in the United Kingdom. Shiplacharya Jainul Aberdin was the designer of those notes and he also the advisory committee member along with artist Quamrul Hasan, KG Mustafa, artist Quaiyum Chowdhury and educationist Nilima Ibrahim.

The second-series bank note of one taka denomination was issued on March 2 in 1973 while notes on five taka demonization on September 15 in 1972, 10 taka denomination on June 2 and 100 taka denomination on September

1. The first banknote with Bengali serial number was issued on February 19 in 1973. It was note of taka 10 denomination.

Then banknotes were printed in Switzerland, Korea, Germany and Australia. Notes were printed in Bangladesh for the first time in 1988 when the 'Takshal' (money printing press) was set up.

The Security Printing Corporation Limited's Managing Director Ziauddin Ahmed told that all banknotes are being printed in the 'Takshal' since its inception in 1988. But the coins are procured from abroad, he added.

The banknote of two taka denomination was first issued on December 29 in 1988. The banknote of 50 taka denomination was introduced on March 1 in 1976 while the 500-Taka note was issued on December 15 in the same year.

The 20-Taka note came in the market on August 20 in 1979 while 1000-taka note on July 17 in 2009. Notable that looting of treasuries and banks in different districts took place across the country soon after the beginning of the Liberation War to meet the expanses of the war. Against this backdrop, the then Pakistani government had cancelled notes of 100 Taka and 500 denominations.

Pakistani currencies remain valid in independent Bangladesh for a few months. The Pakistani currency was first cancelled in the country in March 1972. It was the banknote of Taka 50 denomination.

-BSS