1 Paisa - Mahendra Bir Bikram 'महेन्द्र' in obverse inscription

Nepal Rastra Bank, established in 1956, took over currency issuance from the government treasury as part of a broader push to modernize the kingdom's financial system under Mahendra's direct rule — he had dissolved parliament and seized executive power in a 1960 coup he framed as a rescue of the nation from political instability. The shift to aluminium for this denomination reflected practical economics: the metal cost less than the coin's face value, a calculation that bronze had long since failed.