<i>1000-taka bills on sale!</i>
The recently released 1000-taka bill has become a source of curiosity and attraction for many who are collecting them from the street vendors.
For them, the fresh banknote vendors at Gulistan, Nababpur and Sadarghat are so far the only source of the new note launched on November 27 for the first time in Bangladesh.
The vendors doing brisk business with the notes said the fresh 1000-taka bill has become the hottest merchandise and people are paying extra to get hold of one.
The 1000-taka note with a blend of reddish-violet shade bears a picture of the Central Shaheed Minar on one side and a picture of Curzon Hall of Dhaka University on the other side. It also has a few Bangla alphabets printed on it.
The central bank also considered the cause of the blind people in designing the note. The 1000-taka note, a little larger in size than any other notes, has the amount written in Braille system. It has dots on the right side of the note.
Monirul Islam, a fresh note dealer at Gulistan said, “For us Eid is usually the best time for business when most people exchange old notes for new ones. However, after the 1000-taka note was launched everyone who walks by has shown tremendous interest.”
They charge Tk 10 to 20 as commission for each 1000-taka bill.
Ahmed, another trader at Gulistan said, “Every day we are selling at least 50 notes. Sale was even higher right after it was released. Many people made extra efforts just to come here and take a look at the new note. Our business is quite good because of it.”
Ahmed said their source of the 1000-taka notes is dealers or agents who collect them directly from Bangladesh Bank counters.
A man “buying” the note from a vendor at Gulistan said, “I want to collect it as it has been released for the first time in the country.” Another buyer Abdul Halim, a trader from Stadium Market, said he will present the note to his daughter.
Abul Mansur Ahmed, currency officer of Bangladesh Bank, said, “From Bangladesh Bank the notes will first go to commercial banks, then the people will get it. Business transactions with different parties will circulate the notes further.”
“It is taking time to reach the mass people because when we deal with kitchen market traders, grocers, bus conductors or rickshawpullers, we need smaller notes more. They exchange hands more than the bigger ones,” he added.
The official told Star City that so far 30 lakh pieces of 1000-taka notes have been circulated and another 5 crore will hit the market before Eid-ul-Azha next month.
The notes have been printed by the Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Limited, a subsidiary organisation of the central bank.
Comments