Difficult to assess the impact of 'Brexit' on India: Govt

It is difficult to immediately assess the impact of 'Brexit' on India and Indian community in Britain, the government told the Parliament today.
Replying to a question on the issue, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said in Lok Sabha Indian High Commission in London was in the process of evaluating "implications" of 'Brexit' on the Indian community.
The relationship between Britain and EU is yet to evolve and until such time, it is hard to assess the impact the country's exit from the bloc on India and Indian community, Singh said.
Earlier this month, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said India and the UK were exploring the possibility of a free trade agreement following the Britain's decision to exit from the European Union.

Replying to a separate question, Singh, referring to media reports, said there was a rise in number of "racist incidents and hate crimes" in the week following the referendum on Brexit on June 26.
He, however, said there has been no recorded incident of racist attack targeting Indians there.

To a question on India's aid to Nepal, he said development assistance extended to that country in 2014-15 was Rs 420 crore while it was Rs 300 crore in 2015-16.
"The disbursement of actual aid to Nepal depends on utilisation of the available amount and progress achieved in numerous projects under implementation with India's assistance in Nepal," he said adding four lines of credit totalling USD 1.65 billion have been extended to Nepal so far.

Replying to another question, Singh said government is in the process of closing the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojna while strengthening other measures including insurance scheme Pravasi Bhartiya Bima Yojna for overseas Indian workers.