Contents

Bhutanese ngultrum

Currency of Bhutan

Ngultrum

(Dzongkha)
ISO 4217
Code	BTN (numeric: 064)
Subunit	0.01
Unit
Symbol	Nu.‎
Denominations
Subunit
1⁄100	chhertum
Symbol
chhertum	Ch.
Banknotes	Nu.1, Nu.5, Nu.10, Nu.20, Nu.50, Nu.100, Nu.500, Nu.1000[1][2]
Coins
Rarely used	Ch.5, Ch.10, Ch.25, Ch.50, Nu.1, Nu.3
Demographics
Date of introduction	1974
User(s)	Bhutan (alongside Indian Rupee)
Issuance
Monetary authority	Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan
Website	www.rma.org.bt
Valuation
Inflation	5.2%
Source	Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan, 2015 est.
Pegged with	Indian rupee (at par)

This article contains Tibetan script. Without proper rendering support, you may see very small fonts, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Tibetan characters.

The ngultrum (/əŋˈɡʌltrəm/; Dzongkha: དངུལ་ཀྲམ [ŋýˈʈúm], symbol: Nu., code: BTN) is the currency of the Kingdom of Bhutan. It can be literally translated as 'silver' for ngul and 'coin' for trum. It is subdivided into 100 chhertum (Dzongkha: ཕྱེད་ཏམ [pt͡ɕʰɛ́ˈtám], spelled as chetrums on coins until 1979). The Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan, the central bank of Bhutan is the minting authority of the ngultrum banknotes and coins. The ngultrum is currently pegged to the Indian rupee at parity.

History[edit]

Until 1789, the coins of the Cooch Behar mint circulated in Bhutan.^[3] Following this, Bhutan began issuing its own coins known as chetrum, mostly silver 1⁄2 rupees. Hammered silver and copper coins were the only types issued until 1929, when modern style silver 1⁄2 rupee coins were introduced, followed by bronze 1 paisa in 1931 (dated 1928). Nickel 1⁄2 rupee coins were introduced in 1950. While the Cooch Behar mint coins circulated alongside Bhutan's own coins, decimalization was introduced in 1957, when Bhutan's first issue of coins denominated in naya paisa. The 1966 issues were 25 naya paisa, 50 naya paisa and 1 rupee coins, struck in cupro-nickel.^[4]

While the Bhutanese government developed its economy in the early 1960s, monetization in 1968 led to the establishment of the Bank of Bhutan. As monetary reforms took place in 1974, the Ngultrum was officially introduced as 100 Chhetrum equal to 1 Ngultrum. The Ngultrum retained the peg to the Indian rupee at par, which the Bhutanese coins had maintained.^[5]

The term derives from the Dzongkha ngul, "silver" and trum, a Hindi loanword meaning "money."^[6]

The Ministry of Finance issued its first banknotes in 1974 in denominations of Nu.1, Nu.5, Nu.10 and Nu.100. This was followed by the establishment of the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan as the central bank of Bhutan in 1982, which took over the authority to issue banknotes in 1983, replacing the authority of the Ministry of Finance.^[7]

Coins[edit]

In 1974, aluminum Ch.5 and Ch.10, aluminium-bronze Ch.20, and cupro-nickel Ch.25 and Nu.1 were introduced. The Ch.5 was square and the Ch.10 was scallop-shaped. A new coinage was introduced in 1979, consisting of bronze Ch.5 and Ch.10, and cupro-nickel Ch.25 and Ch.50 and Nu.1 and Nu.3. Aluminium-bronze Ch.25 was also issued dated 1979. Ch.5 and Ch.10 have largely ceased circulating. Currently, coins are available in denominations of Ch.20, Ch.25, Ch.50 and Nu.1.

Image	Value	Technical parameters				Description		Date of
		Diameter	Thickness	Weight	Edge	Obverse	Reverse	issue	withdrawal
	Ch.20	22.00 mm	1.8 mm	4.5 g	Reeded	Man working in field. Lettering: ཀུན་ལ་བཟའ་བཏུང FOOD FOR ALL	Lesser Version of Coat of Arms Lettering: འབྲུག BHUTAN CHETRUMS 20 ཕྱེད་ཊམ	1974	Current
	Ch.25	22.20 mm	1.8 mm	4.6 g	Reeded	Golden fishes of good fortune. Lettering: ROYAL GOVERNMENT OF BHUTAN	Dorje (a double diamond-thunderbolt) is a part of Coat of Arms and represents the harmony between secular and religious power Lettering: ཕྱེད་ཀྲམ་ཉེར་ལྔ། TWENTY-FIVE CHHERTUM	1979	Current
	Ch.50	25.85 mm	1.8 mm	6.9 g	Reeded	Treasure vase (One of the 8 Revered Buddhist Symbols). Lettering: ROYAL GOVERNMENT OF BHUTAN	Eight Various Revered Buddhist Symbols & in the center is the word འབྲུག (BHUTAN) Lettering: ཕྱེད་ཀྲམ་ལྔ་བཅུ། FIFTY CHHERTUM.	1979	Current
	Nu.1	27.95 mm	1.7 mm	8.2 g	Reeded	Coat of Arms within circle, date below Elaborate designed Wheel of Dharma on a Lotus. Lettering: ROYAL GOVERNMENT OF BHUTAN	Coin divided into nine sections within circle, each has symbol, denomination below Eight Various Revered Buddhist Symbols & in the center is the word འབྲུག Lettering: དངུལ་ཀྲམ་གཅིག། ONE NGULTRUM	1979	Current

Banknotes[edit]

Previous series[edit]

On June 2, 1974,^[8] Nu.1, Nu.5 and Nu.10 notes were introduced by the Royal Government of Bhutan, followed by Nu.2, Nu.20, Nu.50, and Nu.100 in 1978.^[8] On August 4, 1982, the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan Act was enacted, although the RMA did not begin operations until November 1, 1983, and did not issue its own family of notes until 1986.^[8]

Previous series [1]
Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	Watermark
		Nu.1	114 x 62 mm	Blue	The Government crest, two dragons	Simtokha Dzong	"Royal Monetary Authority" in top and bottom margin
		Nu.5	130 × 62 mm	Orange	The Government crest, two mythical bird (Bja Tshering) (the bird of long life)	Paro Rinpung Dzong
		Nu.10	140 × 70 mm	Purple	The Government crest, Dungkar (conch) (one of the eight lucky signs), Jigme Singye Wangchuck
		Nu.20	152 × 70 mm	Yellow-green	The Government crest, Khorlo (Wheel of Dharma, one of the eight auspicious signs), Jigme Dorji Wangchuck	Punakha Dzong
		Nu.50	155 × 70 mm	Pink		Trongsa Dzong, two mythical birds Bja Tshering (bird of long life)
		Nu.100	161 × 70 mm	Green	Norbu Rimpochhe (one of the seven auspicious gems), Jigme Singye Wangchuck	Tashichho Dzong	Crossed Dorji (Dorji jardrum)
		Nu.500	160 × 70 mm	Red	Norbu Rimpochhe encircled by two Dragons (one of the seven auspicious gems), Ugyen Wangchuck	Punakha Dzong
For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

Present series[edit]

In 2006, the Monetary Authority introduced its latest series of notes, with denominations of Nu.1, Nu.5, Nu.10, Nu.20, Nu.50, Nu.100, Nu.500, and Nu.1000. These notes use a hybrid substrate.^[9]

Commemorative notes[edit]

Exchange rate[edit]

See also[edit]

• Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan
• Economy of Bhutan

References[edit]

^ "Currency Information: Bhutanese Rupee". ExchangeRate.com. Retrieved 29 September 2016. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License.

• Krause, Chester L.; Clifford Mishler (1991). Standard Catalog of World Coins: 1801–1991 (18th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0873411501.
• Panish, Charles K: "Early Coinage of Bhutan". The American Numismatic Society, Museum Notes 17, New York 1971, p. 247-254 and plates XLVII-XLVIII.
• Rhodes, Nicholas:The Coinage of Bhutan. Oriental Numismatic Society, Information Sheet no 16, January 1977.
• Rhodes, Nicholas: "Coinage in Bhutan".Journal of Bhutan Studies.. The Centre of Bhutan Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, Thimphu, Autumn, 1999, p. 84-113.
• Rhodes, Nicholas: "The Monetisation of Bhutan". Journal of Bhutan Studies.. The Centre of Bhutan Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, Thimphu, Winter 2000, p. 85-103.
• Krause, Chester L.; Clifford Mishler (1991). Standard Catalog of World Coins: 1801–1991 (18th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0873411501.
• Pick, Albert (1994). Standard Catalog of World Paper Money: General Issues. Colin R. Bruce II and Neil Shafer (editors) (7th ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-207-9.

External links[edit]

• Analysis of Pegged Exchange Rate Between Bhutan and India
• Bhutan Currecy & Banks in Bhutan
• Historical and current banknotes of Bhutan
• http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/jbs/pdf/JBS_01_01_04.pdf
• http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/jbs/pdf/JBS_02_02_03.pdf
• https://web.archive.org/web/20120806142959/http://picasaweb.google.com/Vercrusse/Bhutan_Coins02

Numismatics