Question : CASH BALANCE WITH MISSIONS POSTS

(a) whether various Missions/Posts abroad retain more cash balance than officially laid down;

(b) if so, the reasons therefor ;

(c) whether the Government has instructed repeatedly to the Missions/Posts not to keep cash balances in excess of the prescribed requirement;

(d) if so, the action taken by the Government in this regard; and

(e) the details of the Missions/Posts which retained more cash balance than required between April 2000 and July 2005?

Answer given by the minister

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

(a) Most of the Missions/Posts abroad maintain their cash balances as per laid down norms. However, some of them have, on certain occasions, kept balances beyond their six weeks requirement.

(b) The retention of Cash balance by Missions/Posts in excess of their six weeks requirement during certain months has been mainly due to the following reasons:

1.	Sudden spurt in Consular receipts;

2.	Special or additional remittances reaching them towards end of month,

3.	Last moment cancellation or postponement of VVIP visits for which special remittances were sent earlier; 

4.	Donations received for PM`s relief fund; 

5.	Sale proceeds of Cars
6.	Reimbursement of VAT by local government in local currency; which are non-convertible	and cannot be utilized immediately; 

7	Funds required for payments in regard to construction/renovation project,

8.	Delays in transactions owing to local banking regulations.

(c) The Ministry of External Affairs has issued instructions to Missions/Posts abroad reiterating the need to manage their cash requirements in such a way that their cash balances do not exceed six weeks` requirement and to repatriate excess funds or approach the Ministry for cancellation/reduction of their monthly remittance in a timely manner.

(d) The Ministry of External Affairs has regularly reviewed monthly cash balance reports received from Missions/Posts to monitor their cash balances. Mission/Posts possessing excess cash balance were asked to repatriate the excess.

(e) The details of Missions/Posts which retained excess cash balances during the period April 2000 to July 2005 are at Annexure A.
Annexture A

Missions/Posts which retained excess cash balance for one month or more during the period April, 2000 to July, 2005

Sl. No.	Name of the Missions/Posts
1.	Accra

2.	Addis Ababa

3.	Almaty

4.	Antananarivo

5.	Baku
6.	Belgrade

7	Birmingham

8.	Bucharest

9.	Budapest
10.	Cape Town
11.	Copenhagen
12.	Dhaka
13.	Durban
14.	Dubai
15.	Gaborone
16.	Harare
17.	Helsinki
18.	Johannesburg
19.	Kampala
20.	Luanda
21.	Kyiv
22.	Madrid
23.	Manila
24.	Milan
25.	Moscow
26.	Muscat
27.	Phnom Penh
28.	Pretoria
29.	Riyadh
30.	St. Petersburg
31.	Teheran
32.	Vladivostok
33.	Zanzibar
34.	Thimphu
35.	Lagos
36.	Bangkok
37.	Tel Aviv
38.	Windhoek
39.	Sana`a
40.	Ho Chi Minh City
41.	Dakar
42.	Amman
43.	Hong Kong
44.	Tunis
45.	Rabat
46.	Abidjan
47.	Bahrain

Question : CASH BALANCE WITH MISSIONS POSTS

Answer given by the minister

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