2017-04-26 Wed

After demonetization, Nepal had also banned the use of old 500 and 1000 rupees banknotes in their country. A meeting was held in March between RBI and Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) where it was proposed that Nepalese could exchange up to Rs 4,500 worth demonetised Indian currency per person. NRB declined the idea and wanted the limit to be increased to Rs. 25,000. Finally, the meeting ended without any conclusion.

An official letter was sent to the RBI on 13th April seeking permission for the launch of this exchange programme, to which the RBI hasn’t responded yet. There are reports that thousands of people are standing in long queues to get their notes exchanged.

The NRB has also prepared a software to keep a database of people wanting to get their notes exchanged along with serial numbers of banknotes deposited.

As per a new Foreign Exchange Management, Nepali and Bhutanese citizens can carry Rs500 and/or Rs1,000 notes up to a limit of Rs25,000. A total of Rs78.5 million in the denominations of 500 and 1,000 is within the financial system in Nepal.