I often and widely use my US atm card in India. ATMs of SBI, Andhra Bank, PNB and other nationalized banks generally do not charge me any fee of their own (and if they do, they will notify you before the transaction is processed). My US bank does not charge me a fee. So they only fee I am hit with is a 1% fee charged by Mastercard/Visa.
Credit cards are accepted in India in more upscale places. I would say that most purchases you make that cost over Rs 500 will accept a credit card, especially Visa/MC. If you do not already have a no-exchange fee credit card, I suggest you apply for one right away. That way, you will only have to pay a 1% conversion fee. There are many good options, like the free one from Capital One (the 1% cash back rewards offsets the 1% conversion fee).
Originally Posted by
iahphx
Any particular ATMs I should look for in the country, and any I should avoid?
The ATMs of "nationalized banks" such as State Bank of XXX, Punjab National Bank, Indian Bank, etc generally will not charge you a fee.
ICICI bank, HDFC bank, ING, etc will generally charge you a fee.
Originally Posted by
Keyser
i don't think there is any particular atm you need to watch out for but they will all hit you with a pretty terrible exchange fee....
I disagree
Originally Posted by
Mr. Bean
That is odd, Keyser. I generally get pretty good exchange rate with atm's (within 1%). Cash exchange is probably better if you find the right exchangers, though (you might even get extra... people really like the $
). That said, it's still faster to get money from an ATM than an exchanger, and atms are pretty widely available in the cities, so it is pretty convenient that way.
As for credit cards.. they aren't accepted everywhere obviously and you have to deal with minimum purchases as well as merchant surcharge for using a CC in many places. So, carrying enough cash is the way the go, IMO. I prefer using atms since they are widespread and you can get just enough cash, whereas with exchangers, they may want you to exchange a bulk amount to get a good rate.
Agreed.
Originally Posted by
B747-437B
Many ATMs will over you Dynamic Currency Conversion to your home currency at a terrible rate as an option to completing your transaction in INR.
You should always have an option to complete the transaction and be billed in INR instead. That billing will usually be within 1-2% of the interbank rate.
Honestly, I have never been offered dynamic currency conversion in India. But I agree that if you have a choice, always choose to be billed in INR.