Nepal on Thursday issued a redesigned Rs 100 banknote featuring a revised national map that depicts Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura, territories claimed by India, as part of Nepal, news agency PTI reported.
Revised Note Carries Signature of Former NRB Governor
The updated note, released by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), carries the signature of former governor Maha Prasad Adhikari and is dated 2081 BS, corresponding to 2024.
An NRB spokesperson told PTI that the same map had appeared on the earlier version of the Rs 100 note and that the revision aligns with the government’s decision. He added that among denominations of Rs 10, Rs 50, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, only the Rs 100 note features Nepal’s map.
Background: Nepal’s 2020 Political Map
The move follows the Oli government’s 2020 decision to unveil a new political map that included Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura within Nepal’s borders, a step later endorsed by Parliament.
India had dismissed the move as a “unilateral act”, calling it an “artificial enlargement” of Nepal’s claims, and has consistently maintained that the three regions lie within Indian territory.
India’s Response: ‘Won’t Change Ground Reality’
In 2024, after Kathmandu announced plans to print a new Rs 100 note with the revised map, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said Nepal’s decision “will not change the situation or the reality on the ground”.
“Our position is very clear. With Nepal, we are having discussions about our boundary matters through an established platform. In the middle of that, they unilaterally took some measures on their side,” he had stated.
A Long, Shared Border
The India-Nepal border extends over 1,850 km and touches five Indian states, Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
