Travel Policy

Objective

The travel policy would provide reasonably good facilities / comfort / safety to the employees travelling on official duty with in the country. The facilities provided by the company shall enable the employees to Conduct Company’s business commensurate with the image of the organisation.

• To facilitate traveling, the travel should be pre-intimated and approved by immediate reporting manager.
• Hiring of cars is only permitted as per eligibility or in special cases with approval.
• After the completion of travel, all employees shall submit a travel report to their superior enumerating the results achieved, the issues pending, conclusion / recommendations if any.

Mode of Travel

•  Employees shall travel by approved mode of travel as per their entitlements as defined in the table given below.
• The ticket bookings shall be undertaken by the individuals themselves or through admin travel desk for corporate office employees for which intimation in advance is required.

Table 1: Travel Entitlements

Sr. No.	Grade	Mode of Travel
1	L4-MG	Flight ( Economy class) / Train AC Class
2	L1-L3	Flight (Economy class, need based) / II AC (Train)
3	M1-M5	Flight (Economy class & Approval Based)*/ II AC (Train)
4	J1-J4	III AC (Train/ Bus)
5	S1-S2	Sleeper class( Train) / Non AC (Bus)

• Reimbursement of travel expenses shall be inclusive of actual fare, agency charges, sleeper /berth charges, reservation charges, as applicable.
• In case of employee traveling in a class lower than their entitlement, the actual fare incurred shall be payable.
• Relaxation for higher class shall be allowed under exceptional circumstances only with prior written approval of State Head (for sales) / HOD.

 Accommodation

• The employees shall avail hotel booked through admin at corporate location. For other locations employee shall book hotel on his own as per eligibility, with preference given to hotels with corporate tie-ups.
• The cities are classified into 3 categories based on the cost of living/ hotel cost(refer Table 2).
• The lodging limits for any city can be availed as per the category wise limits specified in Table 3 for respective grade.
• Reimbursement of hotel accommodation charges shall be based on actual expenses incurred, supported by bills subject to the class of hotel and the type of city.

Table 2. City Classification

Table 3: Lodging entitlements

Grades	A Category City (Rs.)	B Category City (Rs.)	C Category City (Rs.)
MG	10,000	9,000	8,000
L5	8,000	7,000	6,000
L3-L4	6,000	5,000	4,500
L1-L2	5,000	4,500	4,000
M4-M5	4,000	3,500	3,000
M2-M3	3,500	3,000	2,500
M1	3,000	2,600	2,200
J4	3,000	2,600	2,200
J2-J3	2,400	2,000	1,600
J1	2,000	1,700	1,400
S1-S2	2,000	1,700	1,400

Daily Allowance

•  Daily allowance is intended to cover boarding expenses including all meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and other refreshments).
• The limits specified are the upper or the maximum limits that can be claimed but on moral grounds, the DA amount should be claimed as per the extent of actual expenses incurred and not as per the actual limits. This should be ensured by the employees and verified by the reporting managers.
•  If an employee avails of the stay arrangements provided by the company or is claiming for food as per bills submitted in exceptional cases, then the DA shall not be payable.
• If an employee has one meal provided by company, only 50% is allowed to be claimed.
• DA Outside HQ: DA entitlements as per their grade, specified in this policy shall be applicable;
  • First 7 days for new joiners during their reporting to Raipur office for joining formalities or at their new HQ.
  • Maximum 3 days hotel stay on transfer to new location.
  • During tour to other locations.
• DA at HQ: Only Employees who are eligible for DA at HQ based on the department wise eligibility can claim DA at HQ.
• No claim for alcoholic drinks and cigarettes and tobacco products are admissible for claims.

Table 4 : Daily Allowance Eligibility (Per day Limits)

Sr. No	Grade	DA @ HQ (Rs.)	DA outside HQ* (Provided as Fooding Expense for R&D/BTS)**
1	L4 – MG	Actual (With Bills)	Actual
2	L1 –L3	Upto 500 (With Bills)	Upto 1000
3	M2-M5	Upto 400 (With Bills)	Upto 800
4	M1	225	Upto 600
5	J4	175	Upto 450
6	J2-J3	175	Upto 400
7	J1	175	Upto 350
8	S1-S2	150	Upto 300

Department wise DA at HQ eligibility

• DA at HQ eligibility will be provided need-based only in few departments where intensive field work is required.
• The eligibility criteria would vary from department to department as per nature of work.
  • Product Development : Shall be provided in case of travel km is equal to or more than 40km per day.
  • Sales: Shall be provided in case of travel km is equal to or more than 50km per day.
  • QA/FS: Shall be provided in case of more than 6hrs working in field per day.
  • Production/SPR/BRS: Shall be provided in case of more than 6hrs working in field per day and only in specified seasons.
    1. FC Production Team: 1)Rabi Season : Oct-Jun 2)Kharif Season : Jul-Sep.
    2. VC Production Team: Jun-Feb
  • Vehicle odometer reading photo to be uploaded for the start and end of local trip alongwith travel purpose for DA claim in Xeasy.

Laundry

• Can be claimed after 3 days stay for one pair of shirt & trouser (for males) and one dress (for females) per day of the remaining days of stay.
• Bill has to be submitted for the same.

Local Conveyance

Table 5: Local Conveyance Entitlements

Department	Applicable Grades	Two Wheeler	Four Wheeler	Max KM Limit
Sales	S1-J2	Rs. 3.50/km	–	–
	J3 to J4	Rs. 3.50/km	Rs. 12.50/km	*Max 2500 km/month for four wheeler sub. to overall max of 3000 km per month including two wheeler
	M1 to L5	Rs. 3.50/km	Rs. 12.50/km (If not covered under vehicle policy)	–
Other Departments	S1-J2	Rs. 3.50/km (for official purposes)	–	–
	J3 to L5	Rs. 3.50/km  (for official purposes)	Rs. 12.50/km  (If not covered under vehicle policy, approval based)	–

Other Guidelines:

● The vehicle must be under the name of the employee only in all cases

● *For any excess km run beyond the monthly limit, GM approval shall be required.

● If an employee has not hired any conveyance separately and has traveled using conveyance provided by the Company, then conveyance expenses shall not be reimbursed.

● The company is not responsible for any damage to property or loss of life while an employee is using a vehicle for business purposes. It is recommended to have mandatory third-party insurance

● Local conveyance claims for conveyance between office locations and home, to & from, shall not be entertained.

● All miscellaneous / incidental expenses incurred for official purposes such as internet, telephone calls, photocopying, facsimile charges etc are not included in the daily allowances.

● At the time of preparing the travel requisition, complete details for the  reasons of travel must be given.

● The employee shall discuss his tour plan prior with his reporting manager. The HOD will approve/reject the request based upon business requirement.

● For ticket booking, the employee may send a requisition for train / air ticket booking to the travel desk in advance , in case the employee has to travel by a higher ‘class’ than his  designation permits, he has to get the prior approval of his Function Head .

● The employee shall not be eligible for claims in case tickets are booked by Admin. The employee booking tickets on their own needs to claim through the expenses software.

● Settlement of Travel Expenses after completion of tour needs to be done by the employee in expenses software, recording actual details of journey, stay and related expenses. The employee must ensure that all tour reimbursements for a month are properly entered in expenses software, real time or latest by 15th of every month. 

● The employee shall attach original bills in the expenses software & send the set to accounts for processing further.

● In case of hired/rental vehicle, in exceptional conditions, prior approval has to be taken from reporting manager.

● Accounts shall process as per entitlements and take necessary approvals from the reporting manager / HOD.  Reimbursement shall be carried out by adhering to the laid down process of Accounts.

● The Expense entry in expenses software has to be on a monthly basis, if there is no expense for a given month a “NIL” entry shall be considered to close the month.

Policy Details

Policy Number	8.2	Type	All Employees
Release Date	26.03.2025	Prepared By	HR & Finance
Applicable w.e.f	01 April, 2025	Approved By	Management