Pakistan to replace Rs10 note with a coin, cabinet confirms

If you’re a Pakistani expat in Kuwait who sends cash home or carries rupees back on your next trip, there’s a small but real change coming to your pocket money. Pakistan’s government has just confirmed it is swapping the Rs10 paper note for a coin.

This matters here because Kuwait has one of the largest Pakistani communities in the Gulf, and many of them deal with exchange houses and remittance services every week. A change to Pakistan’s cash in circulation, even a small-denomination one, is worth knowing about before you fly or send money.

So what exactly did the cabinet decide?

According to a statement from Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Office, the cabinet acted on a recommendation from the Ministry of Finance. The Rs10 paper note will be phased out and replaced with a coin of the same value.

At the same meeting, the cabinet also approved designs for a whole new series of banknotes. Officials said these designs came after months of work, including suggestions gathered from artists and designers across Pakistan. A special cabinet committee, set up by the prime minister, held talks with relevant stakeholders before the final designs went to cabinet for sign-off.

The new notes will carry stronger security features to make them harder to fake, the cabinet was told. They will also use modern materials meant to make the notes last longer, which should mean fewer worn-out, torn or faded notes in everyday circulation.

Why was there confusion about this earlier?

This isn’t the first time the Rs10 note has made headlines this year. Back in September, social media posts claimed the note was being discontinued, with a deadline for people to exchange their old ones. The SBP called those reports baseless at the time.

The central bank did confirm, though, that a new currency series was under review by the federal cabinet, and said no final decision had been made yet on scrapping or replacing any denomination. It also promised that if a note ever was withdrawn, the public would be told clearly, with enough time to exchange old notes for new ones.

There’s more background to this. SBP Deputy Governor Dr Inayat Hussain had earlier told the Senate Standing Committee on Finance that the bank was looking at dropping the Rs10 note because it costs too much to produce relative to its value. He also revealed the SBP had tried to phase out this exact denomination twice before, without success.

What does this mean for Pakistanis in Kuwait?

If you regularly exchange Kuwaiti dinars for Pakistani rupees, either through an exchange house or when you travel, you won’t need to do anything right now. The cabinet’s announcement does not set a deadline for when the Rs10 note will stop being accepted, and the SBP has already promised advance notice before any note is pulled from circulation.

That said, it’s a good moment to keep an eye on official SBP announcements rather than social media posts, given how much confusion the September rumours caused. If you’re planning a trip home, don’t be surprised if you start seeing a Rs10 coin alongside the note over the coming months, as both will likely circulate together during the transition.

For now, the bigger story for residents here might be closer to home. We’ve covered the Central Bank of Kuwait’s warning on unlicensed money transfers, which is a useful reminder to always use registered exchange houses, whether you’re dealing in dinars or rupees. You can find more on this story and other world news in our international news coverage.

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