BB possesses Rs 500m in demonetised notes

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has in its vault around Rs. 500 million in Indian demonetised currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. The BB now plans to encash the notes through Soanli Bank's Kolkata branch, officials said.
The government of India on November 8 demonetised notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 as part of its measures to curb black money in that country. Later, the income tax department of India seized undeclared money worth billions of rupees from people.
Sources said earlier the BB asked state-owned commercial banks-- Janata, Agrani, and Rupali-- to deposit scrapped notes with Sonali Bank for exchange. The four banks, including Sonali, possess Rs 1.2 million in invalid notes.
Some private commercial banks also possess demonetised currency notes, they said.
Officials said central bank governor Fazle Kabir recently in a demi-official letter to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sought cooperation to exchange invalid notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 the BB possesses.    
The BB recently informed the ministry of finance (MoF) that the Indian currency preserved in its vault came from customs department which they seized in different times from people who brought those into the country illegally.
The customs department also filed cases each time when it seized the notes. The cases are now under trial in the court.
Following the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes the National Board of Revenue (NBR) recently requested the BB to take steps for exchanging the notes into valid currency notes--- either in US Dollar or Bangladeshi Taka- for the sake of saving government revenue.
Later, the BB asked Sonali Bank to contact the RBI for exchanging the demonetised notes. Following its communications the RBI has asked Sonali Bank to inform it about the amount of demonetised notes it needs to be exchanged.
A senior MoF official told the FE that apart from banks, some money exchange houses, and individuals possess Indian Rupees. Some of them own the notes illegally who would not be able to exchange the demonetised notes through banking channel.
When contacted over telephone, Bangladesh Bank spokesman Subhankar Saha told the FE Monday that he was not aware of the latest situation. But he said an initial step was taken by Bangladesh for sending those notes to India for exchange after the latter announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
 syful-islam@outlook.com