Nepal asks India to lift ban on Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes
Monday - 12th July 2010
KATHMANDU: Nepal has asked New Delhi to lift the ban on the transaction of Indian Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 currency notes in the country so as to boost business and easy the hardship of travellers from India.
We have asked India to lift the restriction on transaction of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 denomination notes to allow tourists to carry money, said Yubaraj Khatiwada, governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the national bank of Nepal.
He told mediapersons in the capital yesterday that he had asked the Indian Reserve Bank Governor D. Subbarao to lift the ban on transaction of the big denomination Indian currency notes for the convenience of tourists from India.
The request comes ahead of 'Nepal Tourism Year 2011', which aims to attract one million tourists, including some 300,000 tourists from across its southern border.
Most tourists and other Indian visitors to the country find themselves in legal problem as they are unaware of the currency ban.
As per an agreement between the two countries, the Nepal government has banned the use of Indian currency notes of Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 denominations for more than a decade to check smuggling and pushing of counterfeit Indian currency into India.
Pakistan's spy agency ISI is well-known to have been involved in routing money to fund terrorist activities through Nepal.
Nepal Police on Thursday arrested three people, including one Indian and another Bangladeshi national from the capital with counterfeit Rs. 30 lakh Indian currency.
Some two weeks ago, Nagaland home minister Imkong L. Imchen was detained here at the Tribhuvan International Airport for flouting the currency ban as he was travelling with Indian Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 notes totalling Rs. 9 lakh.
