International banking in Kolkata?

Nick-H

You don't have to worry too much about the ATMs... most of them will accept any card from a major bank.

Some banks will make a small charge for using another ATM, but free use of any ATM is part of my UTI bank 'Privilege' account so no worries.

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capt_mahajan

except that when the machine of a third party bank deducted my withdrawal twice by mistake, it took a much longer time to reverse the deduction... more than a month. With the same bank's ATM, it would have been a few days.

cmdunn1972

Both are good to know. Good to know about the "privilege" account and what it allows you, but also good to be aware of third party withdrawal issues! (That stinks!)

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Colleen

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Les&Pete

Hi,
I am wondering about atms in India. I thought I should put money in a Visa Debit card which will cut down any fees considerably for cash withdrawal & then use a Visa credit card for any purchases I can make that take a card eg. hotels etc. We are travelling to Rajasthan & Varanasi & if we have enough time, south to Kerala. We will have a laptop so we can organise our banking on the internet if we want to. Can someone advise me if this sounds ok or am I being optimistc about finding ATMs easily?

tasuray

HSBC is another international bank available in Kolkata.About nationalized banks, State Bank of India is the best in respect of branches and ATMs all over the India.SBI also has internet banking, Debit and Credit cards.

Les&Pete

Do I have to find one of these banks to use an atm?

cmdunn1972

From the looks of other banks' websites, and from what Tasuray is saying, international banks such as HSBC have ATMs available, just not as many as domestic banks.

Since HSBC doesn't have many ATMs available in the US either, I'm not entirely surprised.

ycl1688

citibank debit card will charged you for commission using
their atm, also if you use third party one, the later
will also charged you for usage fee.

ing bank issues mastercard debit card claiming if atm display
allpoint sign, will not charge for commission.

best way is to carry travlers checks. if your bank does not
charge for checks fees.

Nick-H

I wouldn't worry too much about the international aspect.

Just pick a local bank on recommendation.

wonderwomanusa

Before my last visit to India, I phoned the bank that provides my VISA credit card and asked if I could overpay and then take the cash when I needed it. They told me that they would charge a cash advance fee even if I had a credit balance.

If you have an ATM card from your bank, use that to debit your account; it works very well.

Four years ago, the only city I couldn't find an ATM was Mammalapuram. I wasn't in Rajasthan or Varanasi or Kerala, but was in Lucknow, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai and many other places ... they all (with that one exception) had ATMs. So bring your bank card, and a few US$20 bills or travelers checks and have a great visit to India.

Note that various banks have different limits on the amounts of rupees you can withdraw; since your bank is probably going to charge a fee for the use of a teller machine that's not theirs, you'll want to take the maximum amount of rupees -- but check to see which India bank machines will give you the higher limit.

Nick-H

A reminder... the OP is not talking about visiting, but about working in India.

There is a need to maintain a local rupee bank account, not just to withdraw cash from 'home'.

cmdunn1972

I'd consider TCs, but we're moving to India, not visiting. We're opening a bank account in India so Hubby's employer can pay us in rupees. The international aspect is important to us in case we would eventually get reassigned to a subsequent post elsewhere in the world. (Saves us from having to close a bank account every time we relocate.)

Does Citibank charge the fee if I'm in India and withdrawing money from a Citibank account I opened in India? (If so, that seems crazy.)

cmdunn1972

Thanks, Nick! You posted that clarification before I could get a crack at it myself.

Nick-H

You're welcome... I'd noticed the drift!

I'd still say go for a bank where you'll get good personal service. Unfortunately this will depend on the individual manager as much as the bank, which is why local advice could be good. Even then, staff get moved around .

When you move on from India you'll need to faff around with repatriating a rupee balance (make sure you have recorded everything you transfer into the country, and do it through banking channels). My guess is that that has to go back to your home country, and I imagine you are maintaining existing bankng services there.

Banking here, especially with the private banks, is a much more personal service than in many other places (there's been nobody in my London branch who would even recognise me for decades!). The bigger internationals do not have such a good reputation for this.

cmdunn1972

*sigh* Yes, I suppose it's a balance between "personal service" and "accessibility". I guess which is of highest priority depends on whether most banking is done electronically or in the branch. Most of my banking at home is done via ATM, online, or over the phone. However, I like that the people at my small branch at home know me (and my son) well enough to put the names to the faces. Hubby, otoh, couldn't care less about being recognized so long as the job gets done efficiently.