The Bangladeshi taka ( bn, টাকা,
sign
A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...
: ,
code
In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...
: BDT,
short form: Tk) is the currency of the
People's Republic of Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. In Unicode, it is encoded at .
Issuance of bank notes 10 and larger is controlled by
Bangladesh Bank
Bangladesh Bank ( bn, বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংক) is the central bank of Bangladesh and is a member of the Asian Clearing Union. It is fully owned by the Government of Bangladesh.
The bank is active in developing green bankin ...
, while the 2 and 5 banknotes are the responsibility of the
ministry of finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance.
Lists of current ministries of finance
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Finance and Ec ...
of the
government of Bangladesh
The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকার — ) is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Con ...
. The banknotes of Tk. 2 and Tk.5 have mostly been replaced by coins while lower denomination coins (including all poysha coins) up to Tk. 1 have almost gone out of circulation due to inflation. The most commonly used symbol for the taka is "" and "Tk", used on receipts while purchasing goods and services. It was formerly divided into 100
poysha, but poysha coins are no longer in circulation.
Etymology
![Silver Coin of Jalaluddin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Silver_Coin_of_Jalaluddin.jpg)
According to ''
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (''AHD'') is an American English, American dictionary of English published by Boston publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Houghton Mifflin, the first edition of which appeared in 1969. ...
'' and ''
Banglapedia
''Banglapedia:'' ''the'' ''National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh'' is the first Bangladeshi encyclopedia. It is available in print, CD-ROM format and online, in both Bengali and English. The print version comprises fourteen 500-page volumes. The f ...
'', the word ''taka'' came from the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
word ''tankah''. The word ''taka'' in
Bangla is also commonly used generically to mean any money, currency, or notes. Thus, colloquially, a person speaking in Bangla may use "taka" to refer to money regardless of what currency it is denominated in. This is also common in the Indian states of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
and
Tripura
Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the east a ...
, where the official name of the
Indian rupees
The Indian rupee ( symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 ''paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use w ...
is "taka" as well. In other eastern Indian languages with the influence of
Prakrit
The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
in
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
it is "taka" in
Maithili and
Magadhi
The Magahi language (), also known as Magadhi (), is a language spoken in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal states of eastern India, and in the Terai of Nepal. Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magahi, from which the latter's name derives.
...
languages, in
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
it is টকা ''tôka'' and it is ଟଙ୍କା ''taṅkā'' in
Odisha
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...
.
History
1947–71
After the
Partition of Bengal in 1947,
East Bengal
ur,
, common_name = East Bengal
, status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan
, p1 = Bengal Presidency
, flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg
, s1 = East ...
became the eastern wing of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
and was renamed to
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...
in 1956. The
Pakistani rupee
The Pakistani rupee ( ur, / ALA-LC: ; sign: Re (singular) and Rs (plural); ISO code: PKR) is the official currency of Pakistan since 1948. The coins and notes are issued and controlled by the central bank, namely State Bank of Pakistan.
In ...
also bore the word taka on official notes and coins.
Bangla was one of the two national languages of the Pakistan union between 1956 and 1971 (the other being Urdu). The Bangladeshi taka came into existence since 1972, a year after the independence of the eastern wing of the union, as the independent nation of
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
.
Prior to the
Liberation war
Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separat ...
in 1971, banknotes of the
State Bank of Pakistan
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) ( ur, ) is the Central Bank of Pakistan. Its Constitution, as originally laid down in the State Bank of Pakistan Order 1948, remained basically unchanged until 1 January 1974, when the bank was Nationalized and ...
circulated throughout Bangladesh, and continued to be used in Bangladesh even after independence for only about three months until the official introduction of the taka on 4 March 1972. During the war, it was an unofficial practice of some
Bengali nationalists to protest Pakistani rule by stamping banknotes with "" and "BANGLA DESH" as two words in either Bangla or English. These locally produced stamps are known to exist in several varieties, as are forgeries. On 8 June 1971, the Pakistani government declared that all banknotes bearing such stamps ceased to be legal tender. Furthermore, to prevent looted high-denomination notes from disrupting the Pakistani economy, the government also withdrew the
legal tender
Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in pa ...
status of all 100- and 500-rupee notes.
Some foreign publications mention that there were rubber stamp "BANGLA DESH" overprints on different denominations of Pakistani bank notes during the a.m. period. Pakistani postage stamps were rubber-stamped and used all over Bangladesh until 30 March 1973, but
Bangladesh Bank
Bangladesh Bank ( bn, বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংক) is the central bank of Bangladesh and is a member of the Asian Clearing Union. It is fully owned by the Government of Bangladesh.
The bank is active in developing green bankin ...
or the Ministry of Finance never issued an order to overprint or rubber-stamp
Pakistani currency.
Since 1972
The taka was introduced in Bangladesh in 1972, replacing the
Pakistani rupee
The Pakistani rupee ( ur, / ALA-LC: ; sign: Re (singular) and Rs (plural); ISO code: PKR) is the official currency of Pakistan since 1948. The coins and notes are issued and controlled by the central bank, namely State Bank of Pakistan.
In ...
at par.
Treasury banknotes
* The first treasury notes in 1972 for 1 and notes of the
Bangladesh Bank
Bangladesh Bank ( bn, বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংক) is the central bank of Bangladesh and is a member of the Asian Clearing Union. It is fully owned by the Government of Bangladesh.
The bank is active in developing green bankin ...
for 5, 10 and 100.
* In 1977, banknotes for 50 were introduced, followed by 500 in 1979 and 20 in 1982.
* 1 treasury notes were issued until 1992, with 2 treasury notes introduced in 1989.
* 1000 banknotes were introduced in 2008.
* 5 banknotes, previously issued by
Bangladesh Bank
Bangladesh Bank ( bn, বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংক) is the central bank of Bangladesh and is a member of the Asian Clearing Union. It is fully owned by the Government of Bangladesh.
The bank is active in developing green bankin ...
, are now issued by the
Government of Bangladesh
The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকার — ) is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Con ...
. These have mostly been replaced by coins since the early 2000s.
Banknotes and issues
In 2000, the government issued polymer 10 notes as an experiment (similar to the Australian dollar). They proved unpopular, however, and were withdrawn later. At present, the 1 and 5 notes have mostly been replaced with coins, and in 2008, the government issued 1,000 notes.
In 2011, Bangladesh Bank began issuing a new series of banknotes denominated in 2, 5, 100, 500, and 1000. All are dated 2011 and feature a portrait and watermark of the Father of the Nation,
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, along the National Martyr's Monument in Savar at center front.
From 2011, the Bangladesh Bank introduced new notes denominated in 10, 20, and 50 on 7 March 2012. The notes bear the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the National Martyr's Monument in Savar on the front. On the back of the notes, the 10 will picture the
Baitul Mukarram mosque, the 20 pictures the
Shat Gombuj mosque in Bagherat, and the 50 notes feature
Shilpacharjo Zainul Abedin's famous painting ''Ploughing''.
On March 7 of 2019, Bangladesh Bank released new ৳100 notes, which had the same design as 2011 Version, but had better security, a stronger Blue and were made of a different material.
On December 15 of 2019, Bangladesh Bank issued new ৳50 banknotes, with the same design as the 2011 version, but had a different colour (orange, brown and fluorescent yellow-green), and a slightly different design in some parts.
On March 17 of 2020, Bangladesh Bank introduced new ৳200 notes. They bear a portrait of
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on both sides and a landscape picture of a village, river and boats.
Commemorative banknotes
In 2011, Bangladesh Bank also introduced a 40 note to commemorate the "40th Victory Anniversary of Bangladesh". The commemorative note features a portrait of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the National Martyr's Monument in Savar on front, and six armed men on back. Curiously, this note has an
electrotype
Electrotyping (also galvanoplasty) is a chemical method for forming metal parts that exactly reproduce a model. The method was invented by Moritz von Jacobi in Russia in 1838, and was immediately adopted for applications in printing and several o ...
10 in the watermark, indicating it was likely printed on extra 10 banknote paper.
On 15 February 2012, Bangladesh Bank has introduced a 60 note to commemorate "60 years of National Movement". The commemorative note measures and features the Shaeed Minar (Martyrs' monument) in Dhaka and five men on the back. Like the 40 commemorative note, this note has an electrotype 50 in the watermark. It was likely printed on extra 50 banknote paper.
On 26 January 2013, Bangladesh Bank issued a 25 note to commemorate the 25th anniversary (silver jubilee) of the Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Ltd. On the front is the National Martyr's Monument in Savar, the designs of the previous series of the Bangladeshi taka notes and its postage stamps, three spotted deer and the magpie-robin (''
doyel
The Oriental magpie-robin (''Copsychus saularis'') is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but now considered an Old World flycatcher. They are distinctive black and white birds with a long ...
''). On the reverse is the headquarters of the Security Printing Corporation. Curiously, this note has an electrotype 10 in the watermark, indicating it was likely printed on extra 10 banknote paper.
On 8 July 2013, Bangladesh Bank issued a 100 note to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the
Bangladesh National Museum
The Bangladesh National Museum ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় জাদুঘর), is the national museum of Bangladesh. The museum is well organized and displays have been housed chronologically in several departments like dep ...
. The commemorative note features an 18th-century
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
plaque of a horseman on the front and the Bangladesh National Museum on the back.
Coins
![50 and 25 paise coins from Bangladesh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/50_and_25_paise_coins_from_Bangladesh.jpg)
In 1973, coins were introduced in denominations of 5, 10, 25 and
50 poysha. 1 poysha coins followed in 1974, with 1 coins introduced in 1975. The 1, 5 and 10 poysha were struck in aluminium, with the 25 and 50 poysha struck in steel and the 1 in copper-nickel. The 5 poysha were square with rounded corners, and the 10 poysha were scalloped. Steel 5 were introduced in 1994, and a steel 2 coin followed in 2004.
1 and 5 poysha coins are rarely found in circulation. The same is the case with the 10, 25, and 50 poysha coins, as they have lost value due to inflation over the years. Only the 1, 2 and 5 are regularly found in circulation. But and odd thing is that coins are not issued every year like in most other countries. The last coins
, 2 and 5were issued way back in 2013, that is 9 years ago.
Banknotes
![Bangladeshi banknotes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Bangladeshi_banknotes.jpg)
;First Series:Bangladesh introduced its first banknotes on 4 March 1972. At first 1 taka and 100 taka banknotes were introduced. Later 10 and 5 taka notes were added. This first issued series is commonly known as "Map Series". These banknotes are considered as emergency issue banknotes to replace the Pakistan rupee banknotes both with and without rubber stamp overprints.
;Second Series: After issuing the first banknotes, there were many conspiracy theories, counterfeiting problems and rumours, so the government issued the second series. These second series banknotes were printed by Thomas De La Rue of England. First-issued banknotes were subsequently withdrawn from circulation by 30 April 1974 after having ceased to hold legal tender status from 30 March 1974.
;Third Series: Bangladesh Government signed agreements with Thomas De La Rue and Bradbury Wilkinson at the same time. Both of them printed same denominations with different design almost at the same time. As a result, two different series were circulating at the same time.
;Fourth Series: During 1976 a completely new series of notes was introduced, with the exception of the 1-taka note, which was released as the second variety of the third issue during 1976. The notes of this issue are notable for the absence of the portrait of Sheikh Mujib, whose portrait had dominated all issues of the Bangladesh Bank until this issue. Instead of the familiar portrait, each note has an illustration of the Star Mosque on its front. 50 and 500 taka denomination was added in this series. 5,10,50 and 100 taka denominations were printed by Thomas De La Rue. 500 taka notes were printed by Giesecke and Devrient of Germany.
;Fifth Series: The fifth issue of banknotes was introduced over a two-year period from December 1977 to September 1979. The notes of this issue are very similar to those of the fourth issue; except the ‘Star Mosque’ was replaced on most notes by a new vignette and the colours of the notes are a little darker. There was no 500-taka note released in this issue, but a new denomination note of 20 taka was introduced on 20 August 1979, being the last note of this issue prepared by the Bangladesh Bank.
;Sixth Series: During the 1980s, some designs of taka notes were introduced, but most of the designs were the same. A new denomination of taka 2 note was also introduced. 10 and 50 takas were redesigned. Other denominations were the same as the previous series.
;Seventh Series: During the 90s newly designed banknotes of 10,50 and 500 taka were printed. 10 taka note had a portrait of
Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengali politi ...
.
;Eighth Series: This series was printed between 2000 and 2001. A polymer banknote of denomination 10 was added, but later withdrawn due to lack of popularity. Paper notes of denomination 100 and 500 were printed with new designs. A portrait of
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengalis, Beng ...
was added on each new note replacing the National Martyrs’ Memorial Monument.
;Ninth Series: After a change in government new series of banknotes were introduced in 2002–2003. The portrait of Bangabandhu was absent in this series.
;Latest Issue of Each Banknote:
The Bangladesh Bank has issued a new series of banknotes, phasing out the older designs for new, more secure ones. All banknotes other than the 1 taka feature a portrait of
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengalis, Beng ...
on the obverse along with the watermark of the
National Martyrs’ Memorial
The National Martyrs' Memorial ( bn, জাতীয় স্মৃতিসৌধ ''Jatiyo Sriti Soudho'') is the national monument of Bangladesh, set up in the memory of those who died in the Bangladesh War of Independence of 1971, which bro ...
.
;Commemorative banknotes:
The folder of the banknote for the 40th anniversary of the independence of Bangladesh had a spelling error of the name of the country. It was inserted as ''Bangldesh'' instead of ''Bangladesh''.
Exchange rates
Historic exchange rates
Upon
Bangladesh's independence, the value of the Bangladeshi taka was set between ৳7.5 and ৳8.0 to US$1. Except for fiscal year 1978, the taka's value relative to the US dollar declined every year from 1971 through the end of 1987. To help offset this phenomenon, Bangladesh first used the compensatory financing facility of the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
in fiscal year 1974. Despite the increasing need for assistance, the Mujib government was initially unwilling to meet the IMF's conditions on monetary and fiscal policy. By fiscal year 1975, however, the government revised its stance, declaring a
devaluation
In macroeconomics and modern monetary policy, a devaluation is an official lowering of the value of a country's currency within a fixed exchange-rate system, in which a monetary authority formally sets a lower exchange rate of the national curre ...
of the taka by 56 percent and agreeing to establishing the Bangladesh Aid Group by the World Bank.
Between 1980 and 1983, the taka sustained a decline of some 50 percent because of a deterioration in Bangladesh's
balance of payments
In international economics, the balance of payments (also known as balance of international payments and abbreviated BOP or BoP) of a country is the difference between all money flowing into the country in a particular period of time (e.g., a ...
.
[ Between 1985 and 1987, the taka was adjusted in frequent incremental steps, stabilising again around 12 percent lower in real terms against the US dollar, but at the same time narrowing the difference between the official rate and the preferential secondary rate from 15 percent to 7.5 percent.][ Accompanying this structural adjustment was an expansion in trade conducted at the secondary rate, to 53 percent of total exports and 28 percent of total imports.][ In mid-1987, the official rate was relatively stable, approaching less than ৳31 to US$1.][ In January 2011, US$1 was equivalent to approximately ৳72,] as of 21 April 2012, US$1 was worth close to ৳82, and as of 9 September 2015 US$1 valued ৳77.
Current exchange rates
See also
* Economy of Bangladesh
The economy of Bangladesh is a major economy of South Asia and a developing market economy.
—
—
—Siddiqi, Dina M. “Miracle Worker or Womanmachine? Tracking (Trans)National Realities in Bangladeshi Factories.” Economic and Politica ...
*
References
*
*
External links
Bangladesh Bank's page on currencies in circulation
High resolution scans of Bangladeshi currency
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bangladeshi taka
Economy of Bangladesh
Currencies of Bangladesh
Currencies of the Commonwealth of Nations
Currencies introduced in 1972