The Chinese company will design the note as per NRB's specifications. Following approval, printing of the notes will start.
Nepal's currency notes will soon be made in China. A Chinese security printing press has received a contract to print Nepal's bank notes of various denominations, including NRs 50, NRs 500 and NRs 1,000.
Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank of Nepal, has awarded a contract to China Bank Note Printing and Minting Corporation ecently. The Chinese security press will design, print and supply the bank notes within nine months, an official told news wire agency PTI.
However a row has erupted after it was found tha the notes show part of India as Nepal's. As reported by PTI, Nepal's central bank issued new Rs 100 notes featuring a revised map that includes the Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura territories, the regions India maintains belong to it. Nepal has been claiming that these territories, in the east of Mahakali river, belong to Nepal as per the Sugauli Treaty of 1816.
In May 2020, the K P Sharma Oli-led government unveiled this political map, showing Lipulek, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura areas as Nepal's territory. Later, it was endorsed by the Parliament. Meanwhile, India reacted sharply to Nepal's move at the time, calling the revised map a “unilateral act” and cautioning Kathmandu that such “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims will not be acceptable to it. India maintains that Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura belong to it. Incidentally, Nepal had already minted Rs 1 and Rs 2 coins with the same map two years ago.
The design of the notes are not final though. The Chinese company will design the note as per NRB's specifications. Following approval, printing of the notes will start.
Earlier this month, the same Chinese firm received a Letter of Intent to design and print 430 million pieces of the NRs 1,000 denomination. The redesigned note will feature seven rhododendrons — Nepal’s national flower — symbolising the country’s seven provinces, along with the signature of current governor Prof Dr Biswo Nath Poudel, which appears on this series for the first time.
The Chinese company won the bid based on the lowest evaluated price and has previously printed Nepalese notes of Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 100 and Rs 500.
