Eighty percent of the old 500 and 1,000 rupee banknotes in circulation in Afghanistan have been swapped for the new notes with the help of Hindu money exchangers.

Money exchangers at the Shahzada market have however criticized the Central Bank for not helping them with the process.

They said that it was only with the help of Hindu and Afghan money exchangers in Khost and Paktia provinces that they were able to transfer the old notes to the Indian Central Bank.

So far, of the 60 million rupees worth in old bank notes that were in circulation, 50 million rupees worth in new bank notes has been exchanged.

“Our Hindu brothers who are mostly living in Khost province came and collected all old Indian banknotes from all Afghanistan markets especially from Shahzada market in Kabul and they transferred the old banknotes to India,” said Haji Zerak Shahzada market spokesman.

Meanwhile officials at the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) accused the Central Bank of neglect over the exchange of the Indian banknotes and said the Central Bank took no action in terms of helping people resolve the issue.  

The chamber said that in the past month the bank made no effort to utilize the available opportunities to swap out the old notes.

“It is the job of the Central Bank to prepare, follow and evaluate monetary policies and to think about the future and take necessary measures. It was the Central Bank’s job to negotiate with India and solve the issue as soon as they could but unfortunately they did not do that,” said Sayam Pesarlay, spokesman of the ACCI.

When the issue was first raised a month ago, the Central Bank said it was not its responsibility to exchange new notes for old ones.