No one knows how this became a tradition, but we all remember collecting freshly minted notes from our elders on Eid day as salaami.
The tradition is still kept alive by many, as evidenced by the booming market for new notes on Dhaka's streets ahead of Eid.
Despite the fact that selling money is illegal, across Dhaka and especially at spots such as Gulistan, street vendors are busy selling bundles of new notes during these last few days of Ramadan.
These money traders said their business booms at the two Eids. Throughout the year they trade in small change, but at festival time, the demand for freshly printed notes escalates.
This season the rates for change went up by Tk10-20 per thousand.
Since the Eid shopping rush raises money transactions many times over, the central bank usually releases new notes to the market in mid-Ramadan. Since June 3, new notes are being exchanged from 20 counters at 19 commercial banks in Dhaka.
Abu Sayed, a middle-aged man buying bundles of ten taka notes, said: “I came here to collect new notes for the children. I got 200 ten taka notes for Tk2,040.”
“I will celebrate Eid with my family in the village. I will give the notes to my grandchildren and other children in the family and in the neighbourhood. The children just love it and it is the highlight of their Eid day,” he said.
Asked why he was buying new notes in the open market, instead of simply exchanging at the banks, Sayed said the long queues at the banks were intolerable and he had no time for it in this mad Eid rush.
“So despite the risk of getting counterfeit notes, I avoid the banks and come here. When I buy money, I make sure to check them carefully,” he said.
Liakat, a note trader in Gulistan, said he has been doing this business for over eight years at the same spot.
“Last year before Eid, I sold up to Tk5 lakh on one day. But this year, the sales did not rise above Tk2 lakh each day. I am making Tk10 to Tk100 per thousand.”
The smaller the notes, one has to pay a bigger the margin.
“We exchange new notes of Tk2, Tk5, Tk10, Tk20, Tk50, Tk100 and Tk500 for some profit. Those who exchange Tk200 in two taka notes have to pay Tk300. Tk500 in five taka notes costs Tk650, Tk1,000 in ten taka notes Tk1,080, Tk1,060 in twenty taka notes, and Tk1,040 in fifty or hundred taka notes,” he added.
On June 8, police arrested 10 members of a counterfeiting ring from different areas in Dhaka, recovered equipment used for production and fake currency worth Tk1 crore.
Md Anwarul Islam, deputy general manager of Bangladesh Bank, said: “The sale of notes on the street is illegal. No one is allowed to sell notes in open markets whether it is Eid or any other day. But we cannot do anything in this regard because taking action is the responsibility of law enforcement agencies.”
New ten, twenty, fifty and hundred taka notes will be distributed from all branches of Bangladesh Bank across the country every day until June 14.
He said this year, an individual is allowed a one-time collection of notes up to a maximum of Tk18,000.
