Employees on foreign travel for official duty including tour, transfer / deputation will be entitled, as follows:

Level / Grade	Class of air travel
D4 and above (AVP and above)	Business class
D2 and D3 (GM and Sr. GM)	Premier economy class
D1 and below	Economy class
Employees in grade D1 to D5 travelling to LATAM / West Africa are entitled, to travel by business class, as per current entitlement

Air travel to shorter distances (within 6 – 8 hours journey or within 500 KMs) shall be avoided. And wherever possible, the employee should undertake the journey by luxury bus / train. However, if the cost of air ticket is cheaper or equal to the luxury bus / train or in case of urgent situations, air tickets can be booked with the approval of HOD.

Note:- Employees should avoid using additional hotel resources such as taxi, phone facility etc., until unless due to high cost involved in the comparison with the external market rates

Kit allowance

The employees travelling abroad are eligible for a kit allowance of Rs.20,000/- (Rupees twenty thousand only) once in 3 years. However, employees in International Business function can avail this benefit once in 2 years, considering their frequency of travel.

Kit allowance to cover purchase of pant, shirt, suit, shoes, socks, tie, winter clothing and suitcase / briefcase. Purchase has to be made before the travel is undertaken to become eligible for the kit allowance.

Original bills must be produced for the above purchases.

Entitlement

• Employee’s entitlement grid (daily allowance) is as furnished in Annexure – I.
• The daily allowance (Annexure – I) includes lodging, boarding & out-of-pocket allowance etc.
• For cases wherein accommodation / boarding have been arranged for by the company or host, only applicable expenses including out-of-pocket expenses will be entitled.
• Out-of-pocket expenses – no supporting vouchers are needed. However, out-of-pocket entitlement as per trip is restricted as stipulated in Annexure – I.
• For all other expenses, reimbursement will be on supporting bills/vouchers and based on actual / as per the entitlement limits, whichever is lower. If any small items where bills could not be obtained, the items shall be listed separately and specific approval from HOD shall be obtained.
• Travel in India between base location and international airport in India and the airport tax paid shall be claimed in the foreign travel claim form (figures shall be only in Indian currency).

Employees to ensure that they hold valid passport, visa, travel insurance, forex, necessary back-up papers, etc., before undertaking the travel.

Employee may share a twin room in a hotel as far as possible. In case two or more employees share a room, charges for room will be paid to the employee in whose name the room is booked.

To the extent possible, employees on tour shall aim at sharing the hired cab facility for airport / railway station drop and pick up and avoid duplication on engaging cabs.

In order to reduce the cost of foreign trip, usage of phone card and complimentary Phone data to be used instead.
Any holidays including Saturdays and Sundays shall not precede or succeed the travel period except towards travelling time

In case a holiday occurs in the visiting location during the period of visit, employee may, utilize the holiday towards his/her visits.

General

Employee / concerned Department Planner / Secretary should ensure that the total travel cost falls within the provided budget.

In the event of separation of an employee from the services for any reason, the amount outstanding shall be adjusted against any payment due to her/him, statutory or otherwise
While on Official tour, employees are still bounded by - the dress code and other norms as prescribed in the Company`s Code of Conduct and not tarnish company`s image

Loss or Theft of company items

In case of loss / theft of laptop, camera, data card, USB or any other company provided item :
In case of theft / missing items,

• Inform ISD and the concerned Department Planner / Secretary
• Approach the nearest police station and lodge a FIR
• Obtain a copy of FIR / FNCR from the Police station.
• Submit the copy of FIR / FNCR with IT Department immediately on return from tour along with a written statement of facts
• IT Dept will coordinate with Finance for filing claims with Insurance company after obtaining required documents

Approving authority

Category	Approving authority
BLT members and senior managers up to grade D5	No prior approval is required
All others	Reporting manager / HOD

Purchase of tickets

Enough care should be taken for planning each official trip to ensure minimal cost to the company.

Employee’s should take responsibility to raise the FTAF well in advance and get the same approved by the authority. Air tickets are only to be booked by the company appointed in house travel desk.

Employees travelling should book their tickets at least 3 weeks in advance. However, there will be some exceptions due to exigencies. Those cases, travel desk refers to finance and based on the reason if it is genuine, ticketing shall be issued.

For a person, emergencies can be capped at 3 in a year per person (in case of less number of days / higher check fares, etc). If it crosses 3, then the same will be taken up during MPR.

Travel advance

Forex travel advance can be drawn 1 to 3 days prior to the travel with advance notice to Finance.

Employee shall arrange to settle the balance advance within 3 days after the official trip.

All figures shall be only in the foreign currency (Dollars / Euro / GBP) in which the travel advance was received. Wherever more than one foreign currency is received, the figures have to be given in the respective currency and the balance to be arrived at against each currency.

If the travel advance is not settled beyond the specified time, the same will be recovered from the employee’s monthly salary.

Under no circumstances, second travel advance will be extended unless the earlier one has been settled.

Where the actual expenses are higher than the advance paid, efforts will be taken by Finance department to ensure settlement of travel bill claims (converting into equivalent Indian currency) within one week into the concerned employee’s bank account.

Flying returns (frequent flyer program)

In respect of air travels on official work (both domestic and international), benefits such as flying returns / frequent flyer programme, free holiday stay, discount coupons, free tickets, etc, and any other privileges given by the airlines or travel agent shall devolve to the company. Any utilization of the above privileges / benefits should have the prior written approval of the management.

Exceptions

Any additional expenses over and above the eligibility as stated above to meet out urgent official trip shall be decided by the approving authority as the case may be and shall be incorporated in the FTAF for proper accounting.

Grade	Japan, USA, European countries (including UK, Singapore & Far East)	Other Countries	Out of Pocket(included in DA) USD	Maximum Out of Pocket(included in DA) USD
	Daily allowance - USD
S3 - S4	500	430	70	700
S1 - S2	410	390	70	700
D1 - D5	385	360	65	650
C2 - C3	360	340	60	550
B3 - C1	340	320	60	550
A3 - B2	320	300	50	450
A1 - A2	300	275	50	450