Bangladesh, India to use local currency to trade from September
BB launches travel credit card in Indian Rupees
Dhaka: Bangladesh and India are going to start using their respective currencies, the Taka and the Rupee, for bus transactions from September 2023.
At the same time, Bangladesh Bank will introduce a debit card called “Taka Pay Card” through which people can withdraw taka or rupee when travelling to india.
People who travel to India will be able to pay with this card, said Bangladesh Bank governor Abdur Rouf Talukder recently.
People going for treatment, students and businesses will benefit from this system and they can avoid using the US dollar, he said.
From September, India and Bangladesh will open LCs for import and export, using Indian rupee and Bangladeshi taka.
Until now, taka is converted into dollars, and that was converted again into rupee; and the same was done with rupee.
As a result, Bangladeshi and Indian citizens are losing at least 6% of rupee or taka.
As the new system provides for the direct rupee-to-taka and taka-to-rupee conversion, no party will be affected, Bangladesh Bank sources said.
The offer came from the Government of India, and Bangladesh accepted it. This will eliminate the use of the US dollar for trade and personal travel purposes.
