Revolut or Wise for India?

cazmanian_minx

Does it make a difference?  Going there for work two weeks today, so I have a very limited amount of time to make a decision (a bit more notice would have been helpful!).  Staying in Bengaluru, if that makes a difference.

Voyager2002

Be aware that in many places only cards issued in India will work. So if at all possible make sure that you have adequate cash in rupees with you.

I had a terribly embarrassing experience... I was staying with friends of friends and the only ATM I had found did not work, but I had plenty of cards. I took them out to a restaurant as a kind of 'thank you', and on arrival I checked that I could pay by card. Anyway, at the end of the meal none of my cards worked in the machine, and before I knew what was happening my hosts had paid the bill with their card! I felt awful, partly because I knew that it was more than they could afford.

cazmanian_minx

For anyone who finds this because they've got the same question, I went for Wise and it's worked brilliantly.  I could set up a rupee account and convert pounds before I travelled to India and so far it's worked at every ATM and card machine I've tried.

Ballard

I last went to India in 2016 unbeknown to us, India took the 500 & 1,000 Rupee notes out of circulation just before we arrived and it was impossible to exchange any currency. We found that a lot of places took cards and we were a bit off the beaten track up in the hills of West Bengal and Sikkim.

We got into the habit of double checking before we ordered anything.