This has not been true for nearly a decade. Back in 2014 the RBI allowed foreigners to take in and out up to ₹25,000 - the limit may be higher now, not sure. Curiously, foreigners may take cash in and out this way only when entering or leaving at an airport, not for land and sea travel. I suppose the land restriction is intended to curb physical movement of cash to bad actors based in Pakistan.

https://rbi.org.in/Scripts/Notificat...Id=8949&Mode=0

No Indian phone number in my google profile. Will observe my phone in two weeks and report back.

Sorry, the CBIC says:

https://www.cbic.gov.in/resources/ht...VELLERS_v5.pdf

When demonitization happened in 2017 this rule created a lot of trouble for anyone who had cash left with them. Only NRIs were allowed to bring back 25000/-

Wow, thanks for that update. Super-confusing that the CBIC guide would contradict the RBI. When the RBI published its updated rules in 2014 there was some buzz in travel forums about the relaxed currency regulations, which is where I had heard about it.

I'm certainly not a lawyer and no-one should rely on me for advice on such stuff but I wonder if there's even a possibility the guidebook has simply not been updated correctly? The CBIC's website that lists the specific customs rules for currency only points back to the FEMA notifications, which are what the RBI notice references.

Anyway, this is probably getting off-topic for this thread. Probably best to go with the more restrictive rules in any case. Although I'll say that in years of traveling to India I've never heard of anyone being checked or questioned about INR being carried out (and even some cases where the officers seems to have seen INR and not cared about it).

Interesting bit is that a member I know in another group was able to buy Indian rupees from a UK airport using a forex service ( obviously at a poor exchange rate )

I didnt know that this was possible and wonder if things have changed..
I have previously heard of people doing this using a grey market service online or from shops in areas in UK with a large Indian population.

The being able to exchange GBP into rupees at a UK airport is news to me .

INR were always available at bigger forex shops at atrociously stupid rates. I recall selling some INR to DM in Berlin in the late 80s. That is form the time FERA and FEMA were in full force. The ED paid a visit to us in 1985 in the village and confesticated a grand sum of 300 DM from my mother. That FERA case took 10 years to resolve 🤦‍♂️

Things were really silly at the time. My uncle was moving to Australia in the 70's and he was only allowed to buy a tiny amount of AUD legally. ( something like 50 dollars) . Even for the time it was a tiny amount..

Sure enough last night the Google Wallet app switched to Google Pay once we were in India.

Wow! <smh> Thanks for the update. Are you able to use your non-Indian credit cards fine from the app now? Any difference at all in functionality that you notice in how you can use your credit cards, etc.?

It would also be interesting to test whether adding an Indian payment method or signing up for UPI is feasible now with the app in this state. If so, that would be the best of both worlds for frequent travelers / NRIs who have access to Indian banks.

Other Indian mobile wallets like PayTM simply don't let you sign up with a non-Indian phone number.

I cannot sign up to paytm even with an indian phone number. It could be a block on my number ( paytm used to work but then they wanted kyc and I didn't have the aadhar card number to do that )

Perhaps of interest to those here who have non-resident Indian bank accounts, it looks like UPI payment methods will soon be available to you even if your bank accounts are linked to non-Indian mobile numbers. Whether this means the annoyances with different versions of Google Pay inside and outside India or being able to use PayTM without being an Indian resident, I am not entirely sure.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...w/96911584.cms

Just to report back: adding my HDFC NRO account or Rupay card to the app was not possible since it is linked to my German mobile number. My Indian mobile numer is not linked to any bank account so that didn't work either. However I once use the app/phone to pay using NFC (or 'tap' as its called in India) and it worked without issues.

So I ran into an issue with Air Vista. Purchasing the original ticket with a US Amex was no issue whatsoever. I'm now trying to pay for a instant business class upgrade but there Amex is not an available payment option and neither US nor EU credit cards are processed successfully.
Any suggestions?

The upgrades are run by plusgrade.com & not directly by Vistara, maybe if you try calling Vistara they can upgrade you directly using the original card.

FWIW I'm surprised the original purchase worked with a US issued amex, that's never worked for me purchasing directly on the vistara website.

That is helpful I didn't make that connection Very unfortunate.

I've booked 4 flights since last year directly with AirVistara, always using a US Amex. I do get the Safekey Extra safety measures but payments all went through.
I only had one Indigo purchase but that worked the same way..

It appears that it may be possible in the near future for G-20 travelers to India arriving at BOM, BLR, and DEL to get some sort of a prepaid debit card or mobile wallet loaded with INR to use for UPI transactions in India.

https://www.thehindu.com/business/rb...le66537286.ece

https://www.devdiscourse.com/article...om-g20-nations

How convenient this is may well depend on how easy it is to get this set up at the airport, and how easy it is to get a refund of unspent INR on the way out.