Best way to get cash in India

worried_jim

henry24 wrote: »

We are going later in the year on an organised tour for 18 days and the tour company says to get our visas from a company they recommend but at nearly £200 each this seems a bit dear. Do we need to or are we okay to get them from the Indian website (that I don't no how to put link for)?

I got mine from the Indian Embassy no issues.

henry24

Thank you for that, that's what thought we would do.


Going back to cash would you take dollars or pounds to change there, didn't realise until I saw here you couldn't take Indian money into or out of India or just use a cash machine.

Voyager2002

henry24 wrote: »

We are going later in the year on an organised tour for 18 days and the tour company says to get our visas from a company they recommend but at nearly £200 each this seems a bit dear. Do we need to or are we okay to get them from the Indian website (that I don't no how to put link for)?

For a stay of up to a month you can use the new online visa: this costs less than getting a standard one from the embassy and the process is much simpler.

Note that:
1. for the online visa you MUST arrive in India by air, and they give a list of the airports where it is valid;
2. they send the eVisa to you by email and you MUST print this so that you can give the piece of paper to the immigration officer when you arrive.

Voyager2002

hydro-tigger wrote: »

We are travelling to India in 6 weeks
The Indian Rupee cannot be taken into or out of the country so its a case of ATMs and banks
We have got the Barclaycard Platinum Visa Credit card so we can get free cash withdrawals. but I presume this has a daily limit
This is my dilemma
We need to withdraw (£1,553) Rs. 126,941 for the retreat we are staying at. at the start of our holiday.
Can anyone advise if a prepaid card would have a limit on withdrawals, if not which is the best one to get
Or is there a better way
Any advise would be gratefully received

That is an enormous amount of money by Indian standards.

I would not be willing to pay that kind of amount in cash. Ask them if they take cards, otherwise get details of their Indian bank account and transfer the money to them using the UK branch of an Indian bank. (If searching on-line, the term NRI is likely to help you to find the money transfer service to India that you need.)

bigadaj

Voyager2002 wrote: »

That is an enormous amount of money by Indian standards.

I would not be willing to pay that kind of amount in cash. Ask them if they take cards, otherwise get details of their Indian bank account and transfer the money to them using the UK branch of an Indian bank. (If searching on-line, the term NRI is likely to help you to find the money transfer service to India that you need.)

Don't think I'd want to do a bank transfer though.

Ballard

I got a e-visa for last years trip and it was all very easy. I went in through Kolkata where there was a different (and far shorter) queue. It's also much cheaper than the traditional one. If your entry port allows for e-visas then this is definitely the way to go.

It's been a few years since I last got an Indian visa but that entailed queuing for a couple of hours. India had outsourced their visa application process so rather than a trip to the High Commission in London it was a trip to an office block in Victoria. I would guess that this is still the case but you'd need to check.

Heliflyguy

henry24 wrote: »

We are going later in the year on an organised tour for 18 days and the tour company says to get our visas from a company they recommend but at nearly £200 each this seems a bit dear. Do we need to or are we okay to get them from the Indian website (that I don't no how to put link for)?

I did an online visa application in April fairly straightforward, requires some info about your parents and places visited in the last 10 years etc.

Cost was $60 at the time £53, paid by paypal

The visa was confirmed by email the next day.

Passengers who had visas obtained from the Indian embassy in the UK were going through immigration a lot quicker on the way in, cant say that it was £150 quicker though.

If by chance you are arriving at Chhatrapati Shivaji airport in Mumbai then best not to use any of the 3 money exchange desks on exiting arrivals their rates are rubbish and have a 300 INR charge, we couldnt see any other exchange options there.

Our experience of departing from Delhi was that you need to leave plenty of time to get through security and weird for me all duty free prices are in USD.

Recommend the train from/to Agra though.

bigadaj

Duty free will be in hard currency, restrictions on rupees, same as other countries in which you have economic problems, they generally have an excess flow of capital out and want to control currency.

Heliflyguy

Not sure what you mean there but I paid in INR and probably lost out on whatever rate they were giving to the USD in duty free, didnt bother to check it was enough trying to work it back USD/INR/GBP and in a rush thanks to the slow security lines.

Hmm India a country with economic problems and a space program

henry24

Thank you for all your replies, we are flying into and out of Delhi with 3 internal flights and 2 train trips.