Nepal's Prachanda dials PM Narendra Modi for help after currency ban

Kathmandu:  Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal also known as 'Prachanda' on Tuesday spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone on the big currency ban.

Dahal sought an arrangement so that Nepalese holding a huge stock of banned high denomination Indian bank notes could swap them with legal currency in the country.

During his five-minute telephonic conversation with Modi, Dahal told him that Nepalese have quite a big stock of Indian bank notes of 500 and 1,000 denominations that have now been pulled out of circulation.

Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese, who earn a living by working as daily-wage labourers in India, visit the neighbouring country seeking medical treatment or rely on Indian markets to purchase daily essentials, are said to be holding big chunk of scrapped Indian bank notes, Kathmandu Post reported.

Also, those visiting India as pilgrims and those engaged in cross-border trade are said to have a big stock of now-useless Indian bank notes.

Some of these people, according to the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, may lose their entire savings if the now-obsolete notes are not replaced with legal bills.

"Considering this, India should make an arrangement so that Nepalese can exchange the banned notes here in Nepal," a statement posted on Mr Dahal's personal website quoted the prime minister as saying.

In response, PM Modi said he would immediately resolve the issue and would also ask Finance Minister to hold talks with Nepalese counterpart.

Following the Indian government's surprise decision, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank, also banned the use of those bank notes in Nepal from last Wednesday.

The NRB has said IRs 33.6 million in the denominations of 500 and 1,000 is within the financial system in Nepal, the report said.

The figure includes cash parked at vaults of banks, financial institutions and NRB.

But actual stock of banned Indian bank notes is expected to be much more because Nepalese were previously allowed to carry Indian 500 and 1,000-rupee bank notes worth up to IRs25,000, it said.

Also, those residing in areas bordering India usually stash Indian notes of larger denominations as they have to frequent Indian markets to buy goods.

The Indian government has said people who have accounts in Indian banks need not worry as the financial institutions will provide them the currency exchange facility. But many Nepalese who own the banned notes do not have accounts in Indian banks.

Against this backdrop, the Ministry of Finance wrote to the Indian Finance Ministry on Thursday requesting that arrangements be made so that Nepalese holding banned Indian notes could replace them with legal tenders here in Nepal.

NRB too wrote a letter to the Reserve Bank of India, seeking exchange facility for Nepalese holding banned Indian notes here in Nepal.