Nepal Bank Limited (NBL), the only bank dealing with the currency in Kakarbhitta, has been issuing only Rs 1,000 Indian currency to a person, citing the shortage. Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) in Bhadrapur, too, has drastically cut the issuance of IC. [break]
"Supply of Indian Currency (IC) is not adequate. We are managing the exchange by acquiring it from the private banks," said Kishore Adhikari, an officer at RBB in Bhadrapur.
As a result of short supply from the bank, people are taking refuse to the private money exchangers for the bulkier exchanges, but the money changers are charging exorbitant fees for the supply.
Money changers claimed that they themselves paid more for the currency, and hence, were charging additional money to the people.
According to an estimate, daily demand for Indian currency stands at Rs 20 million in Kakarbhitta. Its demand in Bhadrapur is still more. Traders and general people said the shortage has been going on for long and it has badly affected their businesses.
"The shortage is since long. It is unfortunate that the authority concerned has done nothing to address it," said President of Mechi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) Keshav Raj Pandey.
Bank officials, on the other hand, said that they have requested Nepal Rastra Bank, Biratnagar, to provide them more IC. "However, contrary to our demand of Rs 200 million, we were supplied with a mere Rs 80 million Indian currency," said Adhikari.
Amid the shortage, the Money Exchange firms in Kakarbhitta are charging as much as Rs 16 for issuing Rs 1000 IC, whereas the central bank has allowed them to charge a mere 40 paisa while selling IRs 100.
Traders stated that the money exchange firms were acting unfairly.
But operators of money exchanges said they themselves were paying more to get Indian currency. They stated that the service charge will go down once IC supply improves.
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