The House of Representatives (HoR) has passed a proposal to amend the Nepal Rastra Bank Act, granting the central bank authority to regulate cooperatives with substantial transactions.

The amendment, endorsed by the HoR on Wednesday, enables the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to oversee, inspect, and supervise cooperative organizations with a share capital or annual turnover exceeding Rs 500 million.

The Government of Nepal had originally proposed the NRB to regulate cooperatives with a share capital exceeding Rs 250 million or savings and loans surpassing Rs 500 million annually.

However, the Law, Justice, and Human Rights Committee of the HoR revised this proposal, raising the turnover threshold to Rs 500 million.

The amendment bill also addressed deposit limits in cooperatives. Initially, the government had proposed setting the deposit limit at Rs 2.5 million. The HoR removed this provision, allowing cooperatives to accept deposits beyond the initially proposed threshold.