There is hardly a worse thing than not getting one’s money while on holiday in a foreign country.
The fact that you can be in India quite quickly without money can happen very quickly: either the machine is empty, you have reached your credit card limit, the credit card is not accepted or, or, or!
And although you can now pay quite a lot cashless in India, payment with cash is still common.
Especially in my early days in Delhi in 2009, it was not uncommon for me to spend the days running from one vending machine to the next, because apparently every vending machine within a radius of 5 km was empty.
Or my credit card was empty and due to several holidays in Germany I hung in Rishikesh for days until I could recharge money!
In the meantime, I have managed the “money problem” quite well:
I avoid Sunday -ATMs are then generally empty!
I have two credit cards and two bank cards – one will work for sure!
I have increased my credit card limit!
I live here, people know me and in India it is common to write.
These measures are all very useful to me. In the following, a few tips and hints on what you should think about in home already, so that the flow of money in India does not stop and how you should handle the matter with the money in India best! Because it would be a pity if you have no reach to your money in India, with all the beautiful cloths, jewelry and art items that are so nice to buy here 😉
Tip No 1
Get a credit card that allows you to withdraw money for free worldwide. For example, I am very satisfied with my DKB card! Works perfectly and you will even get a refund of the fees that the Indian bank may take when with foreign credit cards.
Tip No 2
Take cash for exchange and for the emergency.. It often happens that a vending machine does not work on public holidays or that there is simply none in certain places! No joke, some places are so far away that you can only get on with cash. Even in the tourist place Hampi, the nearest vending machine is 15 km away! With euros, dollars and pounds, you get along always and everywhere. I recommend about 100-200 € per travel week.
Tip No 3
Exchange money as little as possible at the airport. Here, of course, the course is very bad. At the airports there are also ATMs or exchange money once you reach your hotel. Almost all hotels offer Money Exchange.
Tip No 4
At most ATMs you can often not withdraw more than 10000 rupees (approx. 130 euros) at one time. However, if you need more, this is not a problem: simply re-enter the card, enter the pin and repeat this procedure as often as you like until you have the necessary money together.
Tip No 5
At ATMs in India you have tp push the card in and pull it out right away, so don’t leave it inside.
After that, you have to decide whether the amount should be debited under “Current”, “Savings” or “Credit”. For me, all three variants have always worked, but “Credit” is always possible.
Tip No. 6
In touristic places there might be children who ask you if you don’t have a coin from your country and if you couldn’t give it as a gift. No problem, one thinks, the little bit of small money, if it gives the child a pleasure and it can’t do anything with a coin anyway! You think!!!!
Then another child comes, holds a coin in front of one’ nose, saysit has found it and asks how much the value is and if you could not exchange it! Oh, how sophisticated the Indian children are!!!
Tip No 7
I’ve never had anything stolen in India. Toi, toi, toi. And I am one of those people who likes to forget to close their bags and look out the bills. Only yesterday I was again made aware by an Indian that I am losing money!!!
However, we should not speculate on this. There are also other patches in India, as Manali and in places like Agra, Delhi or Varanasi, these flat belly pockets that fit under the pants make some sense.
Tip No 8
In India, by the way, most things still only work with cash. A lot has happened in the last two years and in some places you can pay cashless (but often with a fee), but mostly not. So you need cash!
Tip No. 9
India is a really cheap travel country and with 10000 rs you can get very far if you do it right! So you don’t need that much money! Certainly not if you have booked a trip.
Tip No 10
If you have to pay large amounts for a booked tour or something similar, a transfer can also make sense. Directly from your home country account to the Indian account the fees can be quite high.
Here I recommend portals like Tranferwise to transfer money to an Indian account with little or no fees. I myself use Currency Fair, which has a great rate and no fees. Once you have registered, the process is also quite straightforward. Paypal is often used as well.
