500 000 Đồng

Vietnam's 500,000 đồng note was the country's highest denomination when introduced in 2003, a necessary response to inflation that had steadily eroded the practical value of lower notes through the 1990s. Production was split between Note Printing Australia and Vietnam's own National Banknote Printing Plant — an arrangement that allowed domestic capacity to develop while NPA provided the polymer substrate expertise.

Polymer adoption in Vietnam followed Australia's lead; the Reserve Bank of Australia had championed the technology since 1988, and NPA became the primary exporter of the format globally. The 500,000 đồng was among the higher-value polymer notes in circulation anywhere in the world at its introduction.