That’s very interesting. I have non-resident Indian bank accounts and manage well with an Indian debit card (and cash) on my visits. However last month (mid-Feb), we were at the end of a long day in a hired taxi in a remote part of south India. The cabbie had said he accepted electronic payments, but I didn’t realize what that meant — a UPI based app. It seems US based Google Pay works for payments to “friends and family” in India and Singapore, and uses the Wise (formerly Transferwise) wire transfer service. We were low on cash, and no one had an Indian UPI set up on their phones. I also didn’t have my US checking account linked to GPay — just a few credit cards. In order to use GPay, I had to have his phone number saved in my phone as a contact, and also have his “UPI ID” handy. It took a while to get this across (I don’t speak any South Indian language) … eventually he just gave me his phone and I saw a UPI ID underneath the QR Code, if I recall correctly. Using his phone number and this ID, I was able to use the Wise service to transfer money to him. I took about 30 minutes to go through … and we assured him that if he didn’t get the money, he could come back to our hotel and wake us up and we’d go find an ATM!

Just one thing — because I had paid using my Chase credit card, in addition to the (very low) Wise fee, I was hit with a Cash Advance transaction fee (5% of the total amount) and a cash advance interest charge at a 29% APR that started accruing the day of the transaction. I didn’t realize this until I just saw my statement. Ugh.

So, it seems one can use foreign (US) GPay in India. It’s a bit tedious, and absolutely one should have one’s checking account linked to GPay, unless one wants to have a cash advance charge on a credit card.

On my next visit, I’ll either set up PayTM (I have an Indian mobile number). Or just stick to cash!