Russian tourists stranded in India are running short of cash

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Russian tourists marooned in India are running short of cash. They have no access to bank accounts, with inoperable credit cards and a depreciating ruble after western sanctions.

India and Russia are discussing alternative payment mechanisms. Indian tour operators have urged the Center to speed up the process. The services export promotion council has also asked for a waiver on the $100 visa extension fees, since the visas of several Ukrainian and Russian tourists arestuck in India, including in Goa and Kerala. Many of these visas are set to expire.

Hotel and travel operators have approached the directorate general of foreign trade and department of commerce and have asked its interference, since several tourists who went back to Russia are yet to pay their dues in full.

Since international payment service providers like Visa, American Express and MasterCardhave put their Russian operations on hold, credit cards on the networks have been blocked. Though Russian tourists have applied for fresh credit cards, the applications are pending, with banks yet to issue cards using China’s UnionPay or Russia’s MIR.

Russia and India were finding out linking Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with the Bank of Russia’s Faster Payments System, and integrating RuPay and MIR cards in the national payments infrastructure.

RuPay is operated by the National Payments Corp. of India, helping in online transactions, while MIR is a Russian government sponsored card for local payments.

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