If you intend to travel to Bhutan or you’re looking at a potential currency exchange, knowing more about the Bhutanese currency is necessary.
Whether you’re travelling from India or another part of the world, this is everything you need to know about the Bhutan currency.
The Bhutanese Ngultrum
The currency in Bhutan is known as the ngultrum. The monetary symbol when referenced at an exchange facility is “Nu.” Should you decide to look the currency up through a Forex trading service, it will either be listed as Nu or under the code “BTN” (short for Bhutanese Ngultrum). A single Ngultrum is divided into 100 Chetrum.
Anything under Nu. 1 comes in coin form. All paper denominations include the Nu.1, Nu. 5, Nu. 10, Nu. 20, Nu. 50, Nu.100 and the Nu. 500. As the value of the bill increases so too does the size (while the Nu. 500 is slightly smaller than the Nu. 100, it is not commonly circulated). There is also a recently released Nu. 1,000 bill, although much like the Nu. 500 this is rarely used in day to day life.
Minting and Indian Rupee Pegging
The ngultrum is minted within Bhutan by the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan. As the Kingdom of Bhutan is a smaller nation without major exports, the country has pegged its currency value to that of the Indian rupee. This has been a commonality since 1974 when new financial reform took place within the Kingdom of Bhutan. The exact exchange rate does vary slightly yet remains connected to the Indian rupee. Currently, as of 13 June, 2017, 1 Bhutanese ngultrum is equal to 1 Indian rupee.
Chetrum come in 2 variations
Ch.25, Nu. 1
The Banknote comes in 8 variations
Nu1, 5,10,20,50,100,500,1000Commemorative Issues
Over the years, the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan had issued a number of commemorative notes to celebrate important milestones of the Kingdom of Bhutan. They include the Royal Wedding in October 2011 and The Birth of the Gyalsey (Crowne Prince) in 2016.