Demonetisation Has Pissed Off Russian Envoy. He Says He Doesn't Have Cash For A Decent Dinner.
Demonetisation-induced cash shortage for its diplomatic staff. Diplomatic missions of Ukraine Kazakhstan Ethiopia and Sudan have also sent protest letters on cash withdrawal restrictions. Some bank branches have been kept aside for transactions by diplomats so that mission staff can avoid long queues.
With so little cash, you can¡¯t even have a decent dinner, forget running regular diplomatic business, the Russian ambassador to India told New Delhi in a strongly worded letter as the country, a major global player and a key defence supplier for India, officially critiqued demonetisation-induced cash shortage for its diplomatic staff.
rusembindia
Diplomatic missions of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia and Sudan have also sent protest letters on cash withdrawal restrictions.
Russian ambassador Alexander Kadakin, an old India hand, wrote to the ministry of external affairs (MEA) on December 2: ¡°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 functioning of such a big embassy as ours in New Delhi or India¡¯s in Moscow.¡±
rusembindia
¡°SBI informed the Embassy that the cash withdrawal limit available to the Embassy is now Rs 50,000 per week under the government of India directives with no exceptions unless otherwise advised by the RBI,¡± he wrote.
¡°Such an amount is totally inadequate as regards the embassy¡¯s salary and operational expenditure requirements.¡±
Officials in the Russian embassy, who spoke off record, told that its New Delhi mission has a staff strength of 200 (excluding family members) and with the new withdrawal limit the cash at hand for one person comes to Rs 250 a week.
Kadakin in his letter urged MEA to intervene so that the withdrawal restrictions for diplomatic staff is lifted.
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AFP
Some diplomats said Indian diplomats abroad may have to face similar restrictions if the situation does not improve.
They also said the restrictions may be against the spirit of the Vienna convention.
Kazakhstan celebrated its National Day recently amid ¡°some difficulty¡± due to limits on cash withdrawal, diplomats told ET. Some other embassies are apprehensive that organising big diplomatic events may become problematic.
BCCL
Some bank branches have been kept aside for transactions by diplomats so that mission staff can avoid long queues. But foreign diplomats in India say there has to be a solution to the fundamental problem ¨C ceiling on cash withdrawal.
