Money and payment in India

Every trip raises the question of the easiest way to pay in the respective country. Are there enough ATMs and does my card work, can I change money, which credit card is reliable and where should I make provisions?

In India, you pay with the Indian rupee ₹. Here, 100₹ is approx. 0.90€ or 0.96 CHF. For the sake of simplicity, I calculate with 1:1 and then it’s even a little cheaper 😉

Here you will find experiences and tips from my trip through India and the easiest way to pay for things locally.

Cash 💸

You can actually get cash everywhere! There was never a time on my trip when I couldn’t get cash in an emergency. Even free of charge at the vast majority of ATMs. 🥳 This means that only your bank will charge you any fees. Just one ATM on my trip wanted a fee of 200₹, about €2, all the others were free. The ATM locations on Google Maps are not always correct, but there is always an ATM somewhere.

Nevertheless, it is worth having enough cash with you. Surprisingly few places accept credit cards. Restaurants and hotels in many places do not have a card reader. This can mean that the TucTuc can take 30 minutes to reach the destination. have to drive to find an ATM. And there is a good chance that it is empty or out of order. The maximum in a cash withdrawal is 10,000₹, i.e. approx. 100 EUR. The largest note is the 500₹. That means 20 bills. If you spend a week on the beach in a modern bungalow and rent scooters and perhaps have other expenses, you can quickly make 3-4 cash withdrawals as a party or group.
I always tried to have between 5,000₹ and 10,000₹ in cash with me.

Changing money is also possible in most places. However, I suspect that this is not the best course. But for emergencies, it can be a backup to have a 100€ bill or 100$ bill with you.

Changing rupees in your own country is not worth it at all! Most banks (all of them) will rip you off, we had a rate more than 20% worse than via Revolut.

The following banknotes are available in India. It should be noted that old versions are still in circulation, for example the red twenty. These are actually no longer valid. I still got rid of them somehow. In addition to 5₹ ,2₹ ,1₹, 10₹ and 20₹ are also available as coins, although the former are not accepted everywhere in India. But you can get rid of the coins for a chai.

Debit/credit card 💳

You can’t have enough credit cards with you. I myself always have at least 3 cards with me, as a functioning credit card is worth its weight in gold in an emergency. On my trip I often had the case that my card worked at an ATM, for example, and several of my group did not, so a selection of credit and debit cards and Mastercard and Visa cards is helpful. I do not recommend Maestro and other cards at all. In India, American Express was also usually rejected verbally from the outset. From time to time a percentage is added for credit card payments.

💡By the way – sometimes you are asked which currency you would like to charge on the card. Always choose the local currency for cash withdrawals and card payments, never your account currency. Your bank will always offer you a better rate than the intermediary payment provider.

In some Indian apps, international credit cards do not work, only local ones. Credit cards are not accepted at all in Goa.

Bank to bank transfer 🏦

The last thing I would have expected, but which works really well, is bank transfers. If you are with a neobank such as Revolut or Neon, you can transfer money quite easily and above all cheaply. 💡 More information here. I started paying for almost all hotels this way on my trip. Some hotels and resorts require a deposit for your booking anyway. As in India on Booking.com eg. you don’t pay in advance but cash on arrival, you have to transfer money somehow.

You will need 3 pieces of information:
1) Name
2)Account no bsp. 13200200001234
2) IFSC e.g. FDRL0001234

With these 3 pieces of information, you can either transfer money directly via your bank or via services such as Wise (formerly Transferwise). With Revolut it costs 0.70€ per transfer and with Wise about 3-4€. This can be very helpful for the group bill of a hotel for 1 week. The 💡 money transfer is completed within 30 minutes in the case of Revolut. with the recipient.

⚠️ For larger amounts, you may need an invoice number for regulatory reasons.

Neo Banks

UPI 🤳🏽

In addition to cash, people in India mainly pay with their smartphones. All banks participate in a network called UPI. Apps such as PhonePE enable contactless payment. In Switzerland it is comparable to Twint. Almost all stores and even tiny market stalls accept UPI via QR code.

It is not possible for tourists to open a UPI account. You need an Indian bank account.