Foreign missions write to MEA on cash crunch
CURRENCY WOES Formal complaint seeking hike in withdrawal limit by Russia, others
NEW DELHI: Leading with Russia, some foreign missions have lodged formal complaints about the cash crunch they face after demonetisation with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
These missions can withdraw `50,000 per week, which they say is inadequate to meet expenses when they still work in a predominantly cash economy like India.
“Please just imagine if we in Moscow mirror this order of SBI (State Bank of India) when 50,000 roubles will not be enough to pay for a decent dinner in a restaurant, not to mention the functioning of such a big embassy as ours in New Delhi or India’s in Moscow, ” Russian envoy to India Alexander Kadakin wrote in a letter to the MEA on December 2.
“SBI informed the Embassy that the cash withdrawal limit available to the Embassy is now `50,000 per week under the government of India directives with no exceptions unless otherwise advised by the RBI,” the letter added.
According to sources, the embassies of Kazakhstan and Ethiopia too wrote to MEA raising similar concerns.
The Russian envoy said the amount is inadequate to meet the embassy’s salary and operational expenditure requirements. It has staff strength of 200.
These embassies have many Indian staff members who are paid in cash. There is also a cash component in the rental expenditure some of them incur.
Kadakin, in his letter, urged the MEA to intervene so that the withdrawal restrictions are relaxed. The government has set up an inter-ministerial committee to look into the issue, but many foreign diplomats said it hasn’t solved any of their issues so far.