In a bold move, the Nepal government banned the use of India’s currency notes- Rs 2000, Rs 500 and Rs 200 respectively. As per Kathmandu Post, the intent is to use only Rs 100 notes for any kind of transactions. Minister of Information and Communications Gokul Baskota made this huge announcement during a cabinet meeting on Thursday.
This move comes almost two years after the Indian government launched new currency notes in November 2016. According to Indian Express, the Nepal government has plans to celebrate 2020 as the ‘Visit Nepal Year,’ and so this significant decision comes in the nick of time.
Out of the estimated 2 million people planning to jet off to Nepal, the majority would be Indians. This recent move could possibly mean a brief hindrance for Indian tourists travelling to Nepal and Nepalese labourers plying the trade in India travelling back home. As per Kathmandu Post, billions of Indian currency notes, especially Rs 500 and Rs 1000 still remain stuck in Nepal.
According to a report in Amar Ujala, the new notes are soon becoming ‘unusable’due to the paper quality of the new currency notes which are not really good in comparison to the previous notes. But the question arises as to what happens if it becomes unusable. In that case, it can’t be used in ATMs as the sensors inside the machines can’t detect the bad quality notes.
On the contrary, people in India are not really happy with the quality of the currency notes:-
The new currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2000 stole the spotlight as soon as they were introduced after demonetisation reforms. Nonetheless, only two years have passed and there are speculations that the new currency notes are fast becoming ‘unrecognisable’ or ‘unusable’ because of poor paper quality.
However, since the inception, the currency notes have been in news for all the wrong reasons. The people got new notes, which were blank on one side of the note, with missing serial number and without the image of Mahatma Gandhi.
According to a news report, the problem is so extreme that apart from the new Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 currency notes, new Rs 10 notes which were issued in 2018 are also fast becoming ‘unusable’. The report further added that the banks have started categorisation of these currency notes under ‘non-issuable’ category.
Nonetheless, the government has ignored any compromise with the quality of the currency notes by giving a strong reason that the new notes have higher security features to stop the infamous counterfeiting.
“The new notes are becoming unusable because users in India keep the currency folded or tie it with saree or dhoti,” Amar Ujala quoted a top official in the banking division of the Finance Ministry as saying.
People have also raised doubts about the quality of the newly-released notes and even argued that they might have a lesser lifespan compared to the earlier notes. Well, it’s been two years since the notes have been in circulation, it very much seems that the initial fears are true.
