Abul Kalam, a middle-aged man, was sitting on the busy pavement near the Old Cinema Hall. In front of him was a tin case full of taka bills, aged ragged ones and glossy new ones. Some are beautifully decorated like flowers.

Money is Kalam's merchandise. Swapping soiled taka bills for new ones is his business.

"Many people come to us just to avoid the hassle at the bank. In most cases they come to us to change smaller bills. Who would want to go to a bank just for a tattered 10 or 20 taka note," said Kalam.

"My transaction takes place mostly with the pedestrians who stop by on their way," he added.

Hailing from Tangail, Kalam has been involved in this business for the last 15 years. His work starts everyday at around 9am and winds down at sunset. Transaction rate depends on the quality of the money.

"If it is too worn out I get to make a good profit. If it is burned or shredded to pieces it is even better," Kalam said.

For a slightly worn out 10 taka bill, Kalam's offer is Tk 8. For a badly burned 50 taka note he would return Tk 35 to 40. If it is a hundred taka bill, then he can profit as much as Tk 25.

Although there is no official number, however, according to the damaged taka traders themselves there are around 200 individuals involved in this business. Almost all of them can be found on the pavements of Gulistan and Nawabpur in old Dhaka.

Nahid, also from Tangail, said that most of the male members of his family are involved in this trade. It all started with his grandfather right after independence. "I make around Tk 250 per day. However there are days that go by without a single customer. A rainy day is drought for us," said Nahid.

Nahid mentioned that sometimes fortune smiles on them. The largest amount he changed was a bundle of Tk 30, 000 last year. "A businessman came to me one day with a bundle of hundred taka notes eaten by mice. They had made large holes in the notes," he said.

He added that the pedestrians swap only smaller bills. However their biggest customers are hotel and public bus owners, storeowners and businessmen from the informal sector.

In Dhaka city another breed of moneychangers are emerging, who move about the market places with sacks full of fresh taka notes offering their service to the storeowners. They had to develop new business strategy to adapt with the recent eviction drives.

All the old bills eventually make their way to Bangladesh Bank (BB), where they are later destroyed. BB also has a desk to change worn out notes. Traders like Kamal and Nahid can be seen everyday at BB, standing in line to change old notes into new ones.

According to sources in BB, every year the central bank destroys around 30 per cent of the total currency in circulation. In 2006 around 10 crore pieces of old taka were burned or shredded.

By July this year around 9 crore old taka has already gone though the shredder. Our source in BB said that too many raggedy 2 and 5 taka notes is the reason. A considerable portion of the total distorted currencies is returned to BB by taka traders from all around the country.