Bangladeshi taka

The Bangladeshi taka (Bengali: টাকা, sign: ৳ or Tk, code: BDT) is the official currency of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. Issuance of banknotes ৳5 and larger is controlled by Bangladesh Bank, and for the ৳1 and ৳2 banknotes, which are the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance of the government of Bangladesh. The most commonly used symbol for the taka is "৳" and "Tk", used on receipts while purchasing goods and services. ৳1 is subdivided into 100 poisha.

The word taka in Bangla is also commonly used generically to mean any money, currency, or notes. Thus, colloquially, a person speaking Bangla may use "taka" to refer to money regardless of what currency it is denominated in. This is common in the Indian state of West Bengal and Tripura, where the official name of the Indian rupees is "taka" as well.

History

The word taka is derived from the Sanskrit term tangka (ṭaṃka), which was an ancient denomination for silver coins. In the region of Bengal, the term has always been used to refer to currency. In the 14th century, Ibn Battuta noticed that people in the Bengal Sultanate referred to gold and silver coins as taka instead of dinar.