IndiGo refused to accept Indian Currency on flight from passenger. A passenger complaint with Sarojini Nagar police station stated that IndiGo did not accept the Indian currency he offered for his breakfast on flight. The incident happened on October 10.
The passenger, Pramod Kumar Jain, business man from Delhi flying from Bengaluru to Dubai witnessed refusal to accept Indian Rupee note which clearly “dishonored” the national currency.
Mr. Jain boarded the 6E95 at 7:20 am and decided to order breakfast. He also submitted a copy of IndiGo flight menu which lists prices of food items in US Dollars. In its last page, specifically state that Indigo accepts USD and the local currency of the country of origin and destination of the flight.
Jain asserted that the crew had received commands to accept only foreign currency and that another passenger even faced the similar situation.
According to Indigo statement, “They were breaking no rules in refusing to accept the Indian currency and it is clearly mentioned in the onboard sales menu, and the policy is in line with the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Indigo further said it has asked the Reserve Bank of India to allow higher onboard sales in rupees (above Rs. 25,000) and is actively discussing with the authorities in this regard.”
Business Today got in touch with officials from IndiGo for refusing to accept Indian currency, they reiterated that they do not accept Indian currency for onboard sales following FEMA regulation 3.
The letter also mentions that the use of the term ‘person’ as per the regulations include a ‘company’ and that there is a lack of clarity whether the prescribed limit of import and export of Indian currency would apply ‘per flight’ of Indigo.
Before that, the limit of the import of Indian currency was Rs. 10,000 and then it was increased to Rs.25,000 eventually increased in an amendment of the FEMA regulations. After this incident, IndiGo has send proposal to RBI to increase the limit of import of Indian currency to Rs.1, 50,000. In fact, the limit of Rs 25,000 is a revised one.
Business Today spoke to officials of Air Asia and SpiceJet too where both of them mentioned that Indian currency is accepted in their international flights.
