Declare banned currency legal, Nepal tells RBI

Kathmandu, January 6

Nepal has asked the RBI to declare newly circulated Indian currency notes of denominations higher than Rs 100 legal tender in the country, according to media report on Sunday.

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the country’s central monetary authority, in a letter on Friday to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked it to make Indian bank bills Rs 200, Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 legal tender in Nepal, The Himalayan Times reported.

The NRB has asked the India’s central bank to issue a notification under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), which will make Indian notes of denomination more than Rs 100 legal tender in Nepal and to provide the exchange facilities to get bills of such denominations, it said.

The RBI has only allowed the circulation of Indian currency notes of Rs 100 and less in Nepal and provides exchange facilities for bills of these denomination.

Before the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes in November 2016, the RBI had issued a FEMA notification allowing Nepali citizens to carry Rs 25,000 worth of such bank notes. — PTI