I always entered an odd amount in the ATM (9900 instead of 10000) and got some change to bridge over the gap till the next cashier.

I am awaiting KYC verification from them and will update. I heard some reviews online that were positive, with the main pro being that you can do KYC anywhere. The con being the 3.5% fee they charge to deposit.

I tried KYC with Mony, it was pending for almost a week. Reached out to their support via WhatsApp and they claimed I had to do KYC in person with one of their agents as per UPI regulations.

Not sure what would have happened if I lied and just said I was out of the country. Definitely disappointing because I’m not trying to spend my holiday trying track down a KYC agent with availability, but walking around with tons of Rs500 notes is also annoying.

Well! Now that is disappointing. I thought it was one of their selling points that they claimed you could do the KYC online. But thank you for reporting back, now we at least know they're not better than Cheq and others.

Re OP's question from 9 months ago - now PhonePe does support SBI NRO/NRE accounts with US phone numbers. Don't try to look for the bank in the list offered up in the app. Instead use the route for SMS verification, PhonePe will send the SMS from your US SIM and get your account verified. UPI with SBI through PhonePe then works fine (personal experience). Oddly, it still does not work through SBI's own apps.

And for other NRIs/OCIs here looking into this, try this method with PhonePe for your NRO/NRE accounts; they seem to have really expanded the number of banks they support in recent months.

Another possibility is to set up a new account with IDFC First. They allow setting up an account completely remotely from the US (including KYC) and their app natively supports UPI with a US mobile number. It may be the easiest way to get UPI going if you have the right status (NRI/OCI), although of course this is not an option for other travelers.

thank you, this will be very useful to many here in this forum as well as others who search this.

PhonePe supported ICICI NRO/NRE accounts with US phone numbers, as of my visit last December. It is much better than ICICI's own app (IMobile).

So things are improving. Now all we need is for PhonePe and ilk to debit foreign accounts directly, rather than the current complicated options. No reason it couldn't happen, but it probably won't happen.

An entity like Wise is perfectly positioned to do this as they already have links set up to foreign banks in many countries. They already allow paying to a UPI VPA from a foreign bank account, I believe. It would be most useful if they added the ability to pay to a QR code, and also from foreign credit cards. But between the FX mark-up they charge and the fees of the credit card networks this end up being rather more expensive, although undeniably convenient for short trips in India.

Ended up having some time the end of my trip. I contacted them through WhatsApp and I arranged for their KYC agent to meet me at my hotel in New Delhi. They took a photo of my passport and I was up and running in a few hours. I guess I have it set up for next time. Nice that they came to my hotel, but very annoying that I couldn't complete KYC remotely and had to message them to figure out how to get it done.