- Nepal Rastra Bank contracted China to print 430 million pieces of Rs 1,000 banknotes for $16.985 million
- Nepal switched from India to China due to cost, security, and political sensitivities over disputed regions
- Other South Asian countries also print currency in China, which is the world's largest money printer by scale
Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank of the country, sent a letter of intent to China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation (CBPMC) on Friday to design, print and supply 430 million pieces of Nepal's Rs 1,000 denomination banknotes.
Costing $16.985 million, the NRB said that the Chinese company was selected as the substantially responsive, lowest evaluated bidder.
For the past three years, the Chinese state-owned company, China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation, has been winning bids to print Nepal's banknotes seven times consecutively.
During this period, the company will earn around $63 million from Nepal for printing approximately 2.38 billion pieces of banknotes.
The Chinese company only started printing Nepal's currency notes in 2016, when it secured the contract to print Nepal's banknotes for the first time.
Nepal's currency was printed at India's Security Press in Nashik from 1945 to 1955. The last time an Indian company received a similar contract was on January 10, 2023, when NRB issued a letter of intent to award the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited a contract for the design, printing, supply, and delivery of 300 million pieces of NPR 50 denomination banknotes for $5.048 million.
However, cost is not the only reason Nepal has switched from India to China. Nepal's new currency notes feature the disputed regions of Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura, and Kalapani as part of the country. It would be a politically sensitive issue for India to print the notes.
READ | Chinese Firm To Print Nepal Notes With Map Featuring Indian Regions
Apart from being economical and secure, China also offered modern security features, which led Nepal to choose it over India for its currency prints. Currently all of Nepal's banknotes are printed in China.
Nepal is not the only country that has chosen China for printing its currency. There are other South Asian nations, such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, and Afghanistan, which print their money there.
The China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation is the world's largest money printer by scale. Apart from China's CBPMC, Japan's National Printing Bureau (NPB), Russia's Goznak, and the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing are other government-run entities that print currency and high-security documents.
