2017-05-17 Wed

Last year, Nepal officially burnt 201.32 million units of damaged notes worth Rs 26.28 billion. Officials have stated that destroying and replacing notes unfit for circulation with new crisp notes is a routine process that is carried out by the Central back regularly. Though cashless transactions over the recent years have led to the reduction of unfit notes, a huge lot of notes still needs to be processed. Almost 300 bundles of banknotes are burnt in a day in Kathmandu; seven offices of the NRB outside the city also destroy around 200 bundles daily. A total of Rs 335.65 billion worth notes have already been destroyed till now.

New 1,000-denominated banknotes have been released at a cost of Rs 3.92 each in 2013/14. Rs 402 million were spent on printing and releasing new notes last year. 40 million units of Rs 5-denominated banknotes, 39 million units of Rs 10-denominated banknotes and 29 million units of Rs 20, 12.8 million units of 500 denomination and 1.3 million units of notes of Rs 1,000 denomination has been destroyed. Officials have asked people to use notes with care so that their life increases and costs of currency waste management is reduced.