With the banks stopping all kinds of monetary transaction to India, businesses in the country are beginning to feel the impact of Rupee crunch. Some of the fuel depots have run out of fuel, people cannot make transactions to India and Industries are worried it will affect their supply.
The Royal Monetary Authority, RMA, issued a circular a week ago asking all the financial institutions to stop all kinds of monetary transaction to India for the time being. This is being done to prevent the problem of rupee crunch from aggravating further.
An owner of an electronic shop, Sangay Penjor, said he imports all his goods from India. He deals mostly in computer and its accessories. “Right now we are facing difficulty because of the situation. We have to completely deal with Indian partners in India and they don’t accept Bhutanese currency. If it continues then I think we will have to think about closing down our business.”
Unlike a few days ago, the counter issuing Indian currency and remittance in all the banks remained empty today. At the Druk PNB, a businesswoman came hoping to send a demand draft to India. “Tomorrow, I am leaving to India and I am facing problem. I have to carry Indian Currency, and I can’t even make drafts nor remittances. I might not get my goods on time.,” said Jigme Yangchen a businesswomen. 
The move has also impacted the oil distributors in the country. All the fuel depots in the Capital have run out of petrol and diesel. Many cars were seen lined up at the Bhutan Oil Distributors waiting to fill-up their tanks. It was the only fuel depot supplying fuel to its customers as it had some reserves.
“Driving taxi is everything to me. I have to depend and live on this job. And if there isn’t fuel then it will be a serious problem,” said one of the Taxi drivers.
“If there isn’t fuel there I guess I should stop driving taxi,” said another.
As of now, the industries in the country have not been affected much. According to the General Secretary of the Association of Bhutanese Industries, it has not reached a stage where they need to panic. Their only concern is that the provision made by the RMA could delay the payment of raw materials which could adversely affect its supply.
According to the RMA’s provision one has to fill up a form available with the banks, which will be forwarded to the RMA by the concerned bank. Once it is verified by the RMA it will send the form back to the bank and the bank can then transfer the money. But this process will take a minimum of one week.
