Bangladesh to launch new Tk 100 banknote featuring heritage sites Tuesday

Bangladesh Bank will introduce a new design of the Tk 100 note, titled “Historical and Archaeological Architecture of Bangladesh”, in the market from Tuesday.

The note will first be issued from the central bank’s Motijheel office in Dhaka and later distributed to other offices in phases, according to a press statement issued on Sunday.

Signed by Governor Ahsan H Mansur, the new note measures 140mm in length and 62mm in width.

The front features an image of the Sixty Dome Mosque in Bagerhat on the left and the national flower, the water lily, in bloom at the centre.

The back of the note depicts the Sundarbans, while the watermark bears the face of a Royal Bengal Tiger, along with the number “100” and the Bangladesh Bank monogram.

The Tk 100 note follows earlier releases of the Tk 1,000, Tk 50 and Tk 20 denominations in the same series, with the remaining denominations to be introduced in stages, the bank said.

Ten security features have been added to the new note.

These include a colour-shifting “100” in the upper right corner that changes from gold to green when tilted, and a security thread of alternating red and silver bars that turns from red to green and carries the engraving “Tk 100”.

Three raised dots in the lower right corner will help visually impaired users identify the note.

Special ink designs will appear under infrared detectors. Microprinting of “Bangladesh Bank” and “Tk 100” in English runs vertically and is visible only under magnification.

A see-through “100” to the right of the governor’s signature becomes clear when held to the light, while another hidden “100” is within a blue design, visible when viewed horizontally.

The paper also contains red, blue and green fibers visible under ultraviolet light.

Bangladesh Bank plans to issue the Tk 20, Tk 50 and Tk 1,000 notes from June.

Earlier this year, the bank’s executive director and spokesperson, Arief Hossain Khan, suggested that a new design, without the portrait of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, could be issued by late April or early May.

Before Ramadan, the central bank had announced that the redesigned notes would be available from Mar 19, ahead of Eid.

The previous design, which includes Mujib’s portrait and the signature of former governor Abdur Rouf Talukder, would stay the same.

However, days before the planned launch, the bank said the notes bearing Mujib’s image would not be issued before Eid, adding that the new design without the portrait would be released ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.

The bank did not explain the delay. While the spokesperson did not elaborate at the time, rumours circulated that the earlier design was withheld from circulation during Eid-ul-Fitr due to objections over the inclusion of Mujib’s image.