Want new money for Eid: No interest in ‘Chapri’ notes, everyone is looking for old design ‘Bangabandhu’ notes

❐ Special Correspondent

Bundles of new money stacked on a table. The demand for new notes increases with the arrival of Eid. However, this time there are no buyers as expected. Although one or two buyers come from time to time, many are not interested in bundles of new notes. Most buyers are looking for old-design notes with Bangabandhu’s picture, the sellers said.

This is what was seen while talking to shop owners and concerned people in front of the Sundarban Square Market in Gulistan, Dhaka, on Monday, May 25th.

It can be seen from the ground that there are rows of shops selling new money in front of the market. Every time a buyer comes, all the sellers are shouting. However, the buyers complain that the shopkeepers are asking for excessive prices. The sellers reply that they bought it from the bank at a higher price.

Buyers said that the new notes printed after the political change of 2024 are of very poor quality. People call them ‘chhapari’ notes. They cannot be used in shops, and if there are large notes, the shopkeepers suspect them to be fake notes. The paper is thin, the printing quality is poor. There are also complaints that the color fades when it gets wet in the rain. For these reasons, there is little interest in these notes.

However, some sellers have found notes with Bangabandhu’s picture. What is being sold are bundles.

It has been found that the bundles of the new design notes are more expensive. It has been found that each bundle of five taka contains five hundred taka. Each bundle of these has to be counted as an additional 150 to 300 taka.

Each bundle of ten taka notes is being sold for 1,400 taka. Even though a bundle of 20 taka notes costs 2,000 taka, an additional 400 taka is charged. Even though a bundle of 50 taka notes costs 5,000 taka, it is being sold for 5,300 taka. Even a bundle of 100 taka notes costs an additional 300 to 400 taka.

New note seller Md. Mosaddek said, “Other times it used to sell well, but this Eid there are no buyers. Even if someone comes, they leave after hearing the price. There is no sale at all. There is not much chance of any sale in the future.”

A vendor named Farid Mia said, “Everyone wants Bangabandhu’s notes. There is not much trading in the newly printed notes. People don’t want to buy them, many look at them upside down and ask if they are ‘duplicates’. There is a problem with these notes. But banks don’t give Bangabandhu’s notes.”

Another vendor named Ramzan Molla said, “Everyone comes and goes. There is no sale. We buy and bring. We have to buy at a higher price. So we have to sell at a higher price. There is nothing to do. This is how we have to run our family. Food goes to the mouths of our wife and children.”

Shahriar Kamal, who came to buy new notes, said, “I came to buy new notes for the children’s Eid salami, but the price is too high. For 1,000 taka, I have to pay an additional 4-500 taka, it is unfair.”

Another buyer named Billal Hossain said, “I came to buy shiny notes. But I saw that the previous notes were not there, they were all ‘chapari’ notes. Even then, it is not possible to buy them at the price.”