Big relief for Indians going to Nepal: Now you can take new notes of Rs 200 and Rs 500, know what are the rules

A very relieving news has emerged for the tourists, businessmen and common people going from India to neighboring country Nepal. The Nepal government has now abolished an important ban that has been going on for almost a decade. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has given official permission to Indian travelers and Nepalese citizens to bring into and out of Rs 200 and new design Rs 500 Indian currency notes into Nepal under the new rules. This is being considered a huge and positive change in the strict rules implemented after the demonetization of 2016. How much cash will passengers be able to carry under the new rules? According to the guidelines issued by Nepal Rastra Bank, even though the use of larger notes has been relaxed, there is no change in the maximum cash limit. Citizens of India and Nepal can carry with them a maximum of Indian currency up to Rs 25,000 as before. Now Rs 200 and new designed Rs 500 notes can be included in this limit of Rs 25,000. However, this relaxation will be applicable only to new notes issued after 9 November 2016 (demonetisation). The old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from before demonetisation are still completely banned in Nepal. Why was this ban imposed after the demonetization of 2016? After demonetization in India in 2016, Nepal had banned the use and entry of all Indian notes larger than Rs 100 into the country in view of security and authenticity. Although India later issued new notes of Rs 200 and Rs 500, Nepal continued the old ban for a long time. Because of this, practically people were able to carry only Rs 100 notes while traveling to Nepal, due to which it was very difficult to carry heavy cash. Now after this decision, cash payments and small cross border transactions will become very easy. These people will get direct benefit and third country rule. With this decision, Indian tourists going to Nepal, Nepalese citizens traveling to India and businessmen doing business in the border areas will get the biggest benefit. However, Nepal Rastra Bank has made it clear that no Nepali citizen will be allowed to bring Indian currency to Nepal through any third country other than India or to take it from Nepal to any third country. Apart from this, the rule of carrying foreign currency up to a maximum of US$ 5,000 without custom declaration will remain in force as before.