India and Nepal are tied together by an open border, shared faith and family links. Gautam Buddha was born in Lumbini, and the story of Sita and Ram joins Janakpur with Ayodhya. Here are the main milestones of this friendship, in brief.
Janakpur, the city of King Janak, is revered as the place where Sita grew up and married Lord Ram of Ayodhya. Every year the Vivah Panchami festival celebrates the wedding, and pilgrims from Ayodhya and other parts of India come for it as the groom's wedding party.
Emperor Ashoka came to Lumbini and put up a stone pillar there in 249 BCE. Its inscription records that the Buddha was born at this spot, and UNESCO added Lumbini to its World Heritage List in 1997.
On 24 April 1815 the Nasiri Battalion was raised at Subathu, in today's Himachal Pradesh, from soldiers of Gorkha commander Amar Singh Thapa's army. The Indian Army's 1st Gorkha Rifles traces its history to this battalion.
Drawn up at Sugauli (Bihar) in December 1815 and ratified on 4 March 1816, this treaty ended the Anglo-Nepal War of 1814–16. Much of today's India–Nepal boundary traces back to it.
On 9 November 1947 Nepal, India and the United Kingdom signed an agreement on the service of Gorkha soldiers. According to the Embassy of India, more than 1.22 lakh Indian Army pensioners live in Nepal today.
Signed in Kathmandu on 31 July 1950. Articles 6 and 7 give each country's citizens national treatment in economic development and the same privileges in residence, property, trade and movement. This is the basis of the open border, which Indian and Nepali citizens cross without a passport or visa.
After an agreement was reached in New Delhi, King Tribhuvan returned to Nepal on 15 February 1951 and proclaimed democracy on 18 February 1951. Nepal marks this every year as Democracy Day.
Signed in New Delhi on 12 February 1996, this treaty covers the integrated development of the Mahakali river, including the Sarada and Tanakpur barrages and the Pancheshwar project.
A revised Treaty of Transit took effect in January 1999, and a revised Treaty of Trade was signed in 2009. The trade treaty gives Nepali-made goods duty-free entry to the Indian market, except for a short list of items. Both treaties are extended automatically for seven years at a time.
In August 2014 Narendra Modi made the first bilateral visit to Nepal by an Indian Prime Minister in 17 years and addressed Nepal's Constituent Assembly. On 25 November 2014 he and Prime Minister Sushil Koirala flagged off the Kathmandu–Delhi 'Pashupatinath Express' bus in Kathmandu.
After the earthquake of 25 April 2015, India launched Operation Maitri. Indian Air Force planes carrying rescue teams and doctors landed in Kathmandu the same evening. India later committed USD 1 billion for reconstruction.
On 7 April 2018 the two Prime Ministers jointly opened the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Birgunj, built with Indian assistance opposite Raxaul. Raxaul–Birgunj is counted as the first ICP on the India–Nepal border.
On 11 May 2018 the two Prime Ministers flagged off a direct bus from Janakpur to Ayodhya, launched to link the cities of Sita and Ram as part of the Ramayana Circuit.
The Motihari–Amlekhgunj pipeline, about 69 km long, was jointly inaugurated by the two Prime Ministers on 10 September 2019. It carries fuel from Bihar to Nepal and cuts the cost of moving it by tanker trucks.
On 21 January 2020 the two Prime Ministers jointly opened the border's second Integrated Check Post, at Jogbani–Biratnagar, by video link.
On 2 April 2022 the passenger train between Jaynagar (Bihar) and Kurtha (near Janakpur) was flagged off. The line is about 35 km long and is the first broad-gauge passenger rail link between India and Nepal.
On Buddha Purnima, 16 May 2022, the two Prime Ministers laid the foundation stone of the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage in the Lumbini Monastic Zone.
On 1 June 2023 the two Prime Ministers remotely inaugurated the Integrated Check Posts at Rupaidiha (India) and Nepalgunj (Nepal), built with Indian assistance. The Nepalgunj ICP began formal operation on 6 May 2024.
Signed in Kathmandu on 4 January 2024, following an understanding reached during the Nepali Prime Minister's India visit in mid-2023, the agreement aims for Nepal to export 10,000 MW of electricity to India within ten years.
In June 2026 India's UPI and Nepal's NPI were linked for real-time person-to-person transfers. Through select banks, money can be sent to Nepal using the receiver's mobile number or payment address, and from Nepal to India using a UPI ID.
India and Nepal share an open border, and citizens of the two countries do not need a visa to visit each other. The India–Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship, signed in Kathmandu on 31 July 1950, gives each country's nationals the same privileges on a reciprocal basis in matters such as residence, property, trade and movement. An open border still needs documents. Indian citizens should carry a valid Indian passport or the original voter ID card issued by the Election Commission of India. Nepali citizens should carry a passport or citizenship certificate. Citizens of other countries need visas and must cross at an official immigration point. Rupaidiha (India) and Jamunaha/Nepalgunj (Nepal) are both official immigration points. These rules change often, so check before you travel.
The Embassy of India in Kathmandu says Indian citizens travelling between India and Nepal must carry a valid Indian passport or an identity card issued by the Election Commission of India (voter ID). For air travel, the voter ID must be the original physical card with a photograph. A downloaded or online-printed copy is not accepted. Nepal's Embassy in New Delhi has also said Indians can travel with a passport or voter ID and need no visa.
For air travel, the Embassy also says a driving licence and Embassy registration are not accepted. Do not travel with Aadhaar as your only ID.
Gangs have been making fake Aadhaar cards, so they agreed that an Aadhaar card alone will no longer be treated as enough ID at the border. If an Aadhaar card looks suspicious, officials may also check ration cards, bank documents or other identity papers.
The Embassy's current advisory does not repeat them. Under those rules, Indians under 15 or over 65 could travel without a passport or voter ID if they carried another photo ID showing age and identity, and the Home Ministry allowed Aadhaar for these two age groups only. Teenagers aged 15 to 18 could travel between India and Nepal with an identity certificate from their school principal in a prescribed form. The Embassy now says Aadhaar is not valid, so the safest choice is a passport (children can get one too) or, for anyone 18 or older, the original voter ID.
The others must carry photo ID and proof of the family relationship, such as a ration card, CGHS card, driving licence or school/college ID. These are older rules, so each person should carry their own valid ID if possible.
You need two passport-size photos, proof of Indian nationality and a copy of your flight ticket. Check the current fee with the Embassy. The Embassy cannot help with travel from India to Nepal.
Under it, Nepali citizens do not need a passport or visa to enter India from Nepal. The exemption does not apply if they enter India from China, Macau, Hong Kong or Pakistan.
For travel to India, especially by air, a valid passport or the original citizenship certificate is required. Nepal has asked India to also accept its new National Identity (NID) card for cross-border travel. As of late July 2026, India had not yet given a formal reply, so do not rely on the NID card alone.
Officials record where each traveller is coming from, where they are going and why. Expect ID checks on both sides of the border.
A tourist visa on arrival is available at Nepal's designated immigration entry points, including Jamunaha (Nepalgunj). Fees listed by Nepal's embassies are US$30 for 15 days, US$50 for 30 days and US$125 for 90 days. Children under 10 pay no visa fee (some embassy pages exclude US citizens). SAARC citizens (except Afghanistan) get up to 30 days free on their first visit in a visa year. Some nationalities cannot get a visa on arrival, so check with a Nepali embassy first.
The open-border facility does not apply to them. Entering without valid documents is a criminal offence. In April 2026, a court in Bahraich sentenced two foreign nationals, caught by the SSB at the Rupaidiha check post without a visa or passport, to six months in jail and a fine of ₹50,000 each.
Higher notes are allowed only up to a total of ₹25,000 per person (RBI notification of 28 November 2025). In Nepal, only ₹200 and ₹500 notes issued on or after 9 November 2016 (new series) are accepted, within that ₹25,000 limit (Nepal Rastra Bank notice reissued in July 2026). Old ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes from before that date are still not allowed. The RBI permission does not cover citizens of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Under the RBI rule, anyone may take Nepali rupee notes into or out of India with no limit. Nepali citizens may not carry Indian rupees to, or bring them from, any country other than India. Cash above US$5,000 (or the equivalent) brought into Nepal must be declared at customs.
For a same-day trip to the nearest Nepali town or market, register at the Nepali border check post and take a Day Pass/Challan without paying customs duty, then return to India the same day. To go further or stay overnight, take a pass for the exact number of days. The charge is NPR 100–500 per day, depending on the vehicle type. An Indian vehicle may stay in Nepal for a total of 30 days in a calendar year. Keep the pass with you at all times and hand it back to Nepal Customs when you leave. A vehicle without a valid pass can be seized.
A QR code with your details is issued after you submit the form. Separately, India and Nepal agreed in August 2026 to digitise cross-border vehicle permits, but as of October 2026 that joint system was not yet in place.
Identity documents, money and customs for crossing at Rupaidiha are kept in one up-to-date guide — so they are never out of step.
AC sleeper buses between Gujarat and the Rupaidiha border, with offices on both sides.
Last reviewed: 9 October 2026. Rules and facts can change. Always check official government sources before you travel.
