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Travel to India and Bhutan, how to bring money?

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  • Nov 23rd, 2017 8:01 pm
Deal Guru
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Mar 8, 2003
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Richmond Hill

Travel to India and Bhutan, how to bring money?

I plan to visit New Delhi and northern part of country for couple weeks, what's best way to bring money as travel expense? I bank with TD.

Also pay visit to Bhutan for a few days, any suggestion are welcomed.

Thanks.
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Deal Addict
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Feb 25, 2007
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I was in India in October and can share this:

I was able to withdraw 10,000 Rupees (~$205 at the time) at any Indian Bank ATM using my Tangerine card on the Cirrus network. Fees were an additional $2 per transaction.

You are limited to 10,000 per transaction but you can just put your card back in a few times with no issue.

My MBNA and BMO credit cards were declined everywhere and were unusable in India. Even after calling my CC companies and telling them I was going there (although they told me I don't need to do that anymore).

P.S. if you plan to withdraw cash call your bank in advance. India is on what they call a "white list" of countries and they won't allow cash withdrawals unless you call them beforehand.

P.P.S. I was able to call US/Canadian numbers for free using Google Hangouts app over WiFi. Great idea if you need to call home.
Deal Guru
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Mar 8, 2003
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Richmond Hill
Third Eye wrote: I was in India in October and can share this:

I was able to withdraw 10,000 Rupees (~$205 at the time) at any Indian Bank ATM using my Tangerine card on the Cirrus network. Fees were an additional $2 per transaction.

You are limited to 10,000 per transaction but you can just put your card back in a few times with no issue.

My MBNA and BMO credit cards were declined everywhere and were unusable in India. Even after calling my CC companies and telling them I was going there (although they told me I don't need to do that anymore).

P.S. if you plan to withdraw cash call your bank in advance. India is on what they call a "white list" of countries and they won't allow cash withdrawals unless you call them beforehand.

P.P.S. I was able to call US/Canadian numbers for free using Google Hangouts app over WiFi. Great idea if you need to call home.
Thanks for the tips. How is the exchange rate of ATM cash withdrawal? I was told by TD that the rate was set by Indian bank.
Deal Addict
Dec 6, 2004
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I head to India every year, I'll sometimes order 10K rupees before leaving, but usually will just take out cash once I get to the airport at an ATM. I think I'm generally charged $2-3 more than provided "best" exchange, but for the convenience of ATMs being everywhere not an issue.
Deal Addict
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Feb 25, 2007
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wlee wrote: Thanks for the tips. How is the exchange rate of ATM cash withdrawal? I was told by TD that the rate was set by Indian bank.
The rate was decent, not the best but for the convenience it is well worth it.

Unless you are changing thousands of dollars you will hardly notice. Your money goes far in India.
Deal Addict
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Oct 5, 2004
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Toronto
wlee wrote: I plan to visit New Delhi and northern part of country for couple weeks, what's best way to bring money as travel expense? I bank with TD.

Also pay visit to Bhutan for a few days, any suggestion are welcomed.

Thanks.
India accepts cad, you don't need to bring USD. Bring USD to Bhutan. Hope you researched the visa and costs as it's expensive as you pay daily.
I have about 10K India ruppies left in case you need some to avoid being "robbed" at the airport by the overpriced exchange places that charge %+$5-6usd to change. Let me know(or anyone who need cheaper money :) )

exchange rates in India were way better than any bank in Canada... At times they were just about 1% above FX rates. 2 of my hotels exchanged Cad at fx rates
.
Deal Addict
Sep 13, 2016
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No matter what you do, do not use the exchange services at the airports. you are better of using the ATM directly. If you wish, you could later get a quote online from a number of FX brokers who would be happy to compete for your business. Also I am a bit surprised that people were not able to use BMO credit cards. May be it's bank dependent as I have been able to use my TD credit card on a number of occasions.
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May 10, 2015
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Waterloo, ON
I second the suggestion to change your money at your hotel. I've got decent rates that way.
I try to use my Amazon .ca credit card (no fx) for most POS purchases abroad but foreign cards tend to be blocked in about a third of the machines in India for some reason. They should still work in the ATMs though.
Penalty Box
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Nov 13, 2010
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Scarborough
Always exchange abroad as everything is a ripoff here. Bring cash as it makes it easier
Deal Guru
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Moving target
There are multiple bank machines at the airport. This was one of the few places I could withdraw 20,000 rupees. Fees are similar but citi bank is the good one. It will give you smaller notes. People really don't like the 2000 rupee notes and you need small bills for tuk Tuks bottles of water.

Credit is accepted in larger cities at larger restaurants but outside of major cities it's really a cash country.

I used my amazon visa at times and my info was stolen and 2 transactions approved in Europe for about $1000 chase/ amazon detected it but couldn't reach me. They reversed the charges with no hassle could have been a coincidence that I happen to be there

Ask your friend to arrange a SIM card for you. It can be a pain to get properly activated and may take a day or two.

If you can get "paytm" to work a lot of people pay with it even for very small transactions.
Autocorrect sucks

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