Recent Experiences in India

[RB]

We are locked in for another trip to India in Feb 2023. Hoping to pick up a few tips of recent experiences members may have had with accessing money and how you went about using data. We will be hiring a car & driver. We have access to Citi/28 degrees/Ubank. Is cash still king? Many of the places we are staying have free wi-fi- what have you done for data when out on the road?

 

[Daver6]

I was there for work a month ago. I used my Vodafone $5/roaming without issue. I mainly used a credit card, but having said that I was in 5* hotels/upmarket restaurants.

As for cash, I just used an ATM to withdraw from my AU savings account. Sure it might have cost me $5 (if that in fees, but just made my life easy).

 

[bussyboy]

April 2022 - used Wise for anything I didn't want to go through normal credit cards, and for paying my driver's account directly. For the most part, electronic payments were available everywhere - but I was surprised how much cash I still went through

I withdrew cash out from Citibank ATMs in Jaipur (from my .au Citi account) - was very annoyed though when I took cash out at the branch, the bank teller wouldn't break down from Rs.500 to smaller denominations and suggested I try the servo across the street!

I ended up roaming my Telstra service the whole time in India, but used hotel WiFi to do cloud uploads periodically. I don't think I was ever without a signal while touring Rajasthan - very impressive!

 

[blacksultan]

We are locked in for another trip to India in Feb 2023. Hoping to pick up a few tips of recent experiences members may have had with accessing money and how you went about using data. We will be hiring a car & driver. We have access to Citi/28 degrees/Ubank. Is cash still king? Many of the places we are staying have free wi-fi- what have you done for data when out on the road?

Currently non Indian credit cards are blocked . Amex sparingly accepted otherwise .

Post automatically merged: Jan 7, 2023

You can get a local sim for data , pretty cheap . Your hotel will be able to assist .

 

[RB]

Currently non Indian credit cards are blocked . Amex sparingly accepted otherwise .

Post automatically merged: Jan 7, 2023

You can get a local sim for data , pretty cheap . Your hotel will be able to assist .

Wondering if you have a link to explain the blocking of non-Indian cards. I have read a few press reports of Indian card holders having some problems & the other articles only referred to lotteries/sweepstakes for foreign hald cards

 

[Ade]

Currently non Indian credit cards are blocked . Amex sparingly accepted otherwise .

I was able to use my MasterCard & AMEX when in India around Aug-Sep 2022... may be something changed in the last 4-5 months
?

 

[Pushka]

Currently non Indian credit cards are blocked . Amex sparingly accepted otherwise .

Post automatically merged: Jan 7, 2023

You can get a local sim for data , pretty cheap . Your hotel will be able to assist .

Surely can use them for hotel accommodation?

 

[somebol]

I am currently in india. Foreign cards are definitely accepted.
Some smaller retailers may not have the facility and sometimes you have to ask for a machine that can handle foreign cards

Post automatically merged: Jan 7, 2023

Also google pay is widely accepted even by street vendors. But you need to be able to link to a local account

 

[Daver6]

I was able to use my MasterCard & AMEX when in India around Aug-Sep 2022... may be something changed in the last 4-5 months
?

No issues with Amex and Visa in December.

 

[blacksultan]

Surely can use them for hotel accommodation?

Maybe if booked from a non Indian website . Definitely does not work at offline merchants in India . Seems to be an official block .
Large Hotels may have an exemption .
In the best of times international cards don’t work smoothly on Indian websites.

 

[Pushka]

Maybe if booked from a non Indian website . Definitely does not work at offline merchants in India . Seems to be an official block .
Large Hotels may have an exemption .
In the best of times international cards don’t work smoothly on Indian websites.

Might enquire with the Hotel soonish and pay ahead. It's a large one.

 

[RB]

Maybe if booked from a non Indian website . Definitely does not work at offline merchants in India . Seems to be an official block .
Large Hotels may have an exemption .
In the best of times international cards don’t work smoothly on Indian websites.

This info and your previous post is at odds to the experiences that other posters have had recently. Is your card provider aware that you are trying to spend in India/on Indian web sites?

 

[blacksultan]

This info and your previous post is at odds to the experiences that other posters have had recently. Is your card provider aware that you are trying to spend in India/on Indian web sites?

It was more a question of the merchant mentioning to me and other customers that non Indian cards don’t work . This has mainly been in goa . Cba ultimate awards has worked on Amazon india .

 

[Pushka]

It was more a question of the merchant mentioning to me and other customers that non Indian cards don’t work . This has mainly been in goa . Cba ultimate awards has worked on Amazon india .

Maybe it's because they simply didn't want to accept it and possibly higher fees for them.

 

[blacksultan]

Maybe it's because they simply didn't want to accept it and possibly higher fees for them.

No . It didn’t work . I noticed it at servo and restaurant . Maybe they are blocked at a lower level because of higher processing costs .

 

[stm1sydney]

My 28 degrees MC worked everywhere in Kerala. My wife certainly gave it a good going over. (Although we did use cash for all small transactions.)

 

[blacksultan]

Google pay and other local Indian payment apps are used extensively even by roadside vendors . Though u believe one needs an in Indian bank account and phone number to register .

 

[Kimster]

International Cards work but not everywhere. Big End of town and expensive restaurants, shopping centres etc are all ok. Small end of town and everyday expenses (taxi, street vendors, small shops etc .. all use PayTM or Phonepe machines - which does not seem to accept International cards. Some are ok and some won't - so it has been a hit and miss.

 

[RB]

International Cards work but not everywhere. Big End of town and expensive restaurants, shopping centres etc are all ok. Small end of town and everyday expenses (taxi, street vendors, small shops etc .. all use PayTM or Phonepe machines - which does not seem to accept International cards. Some are ok and some won't - so it has been a hit and miss.

Thanks. We are now in India & 28 degrees is working well but we are paying cash for small items