Best currency for travellers' cheques?

jarman_ah

As an Aussie, I know enough NOT to take Australian dollar travellers' cheques with me to India, so I have the choice: US dollars, pounds sterling or euros. Which one of these would get me the best exchange rates when converting in India, and which is most smiled-upon by local businesses?

Thanks for advice!

edwardseco

Your first assumption may be wrong. The Oz dollar may be down but how should that affect its convertability? Is this some national inferiority complex? I see it listed on the chart at my bank at Hyderabad so what's the problem unless you dearly love the expense of an unnecessary conversion.?

timmy

I think jarman ah is concerned that money changers won't know the exchange rate for the AUD. I've taken USD cash with me when I've gone previously, because even the most dubious changer will be well aware of the going rate.

This time around I'm taking some USD cash and my ATM card.

WRT banks in India... I never actually found one that changed money. I got stuck in Chandni Chowk in Delhi realising I only had USD. All the "banks" I found were through partly-chained gates, up dark stairs to a grungy concrete room with guards standing around with rifles. Scary.

jarman_ah

My reservations about the Aussie dollar have nothing to do with its conversion rate, but simply with its recognition rate. Most countries don't know what it is, and some businesses send you away to bring back something they recognise, just as if an Indian tourist landed in Sydney and turned up at K-Mart with travellers' cheques in Indian rupees.

Thanks for the advice so far... I will be interested to hear people's experiences with the pound and the euro.

mr pastry

Our last visit was in 1997. Then the advice was to take USD t/c's and cash. I did just that, but found that Sterling would have been just as good.

Since then on our travels through the Mid and Far East we have found the "mighty dollar" to be king and I now always carry some USD cash as back up. Also, we have found Amex to be more widely accepted that Thos. Cook and be aware that contrary to everything that the bank will tell you about carrying the receipts and cheques seperately, there are still a lot of foreign banks that will demand to see the original purchase receipt before they will cash cheques, so make sure you have them with you.

For our visit to India this year we will rely on ATM's (there weren't any last time!) and a mix of Sterling t/c's and USD cash as backup. The advantage of ATM's is that you can draw enough to last a day or so rather than having to carry great bundles of cash (changing t/c's at a bank is usually such a hassle that you tend to change too much so you don't have to queue so often). I remember arriving at Delhi in the middle of the night and changing enough travellers cheques to last the first 5 days and being given a pile of notes that was nearly as big as my rucksack.

One last thing, and it's probably been covered elsewhere before now, never accept torn notes from anyone, including banks, in India. You will not be able to get rid of them!!!

Andrew

ikimasho

banks and reputable currency exchanges change t/c from australia, canada, japan, and many other countries.....i dont think it makes sense for anyone to change their money twice... i.e. - once into usd and then again into rupees.....

trust that you can change t/c and carry your atm/visa/$100 note for emergencies....obviously if you are travelling off the beaten path it may require a little advanced planning on your part.

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jarman_ah

Thanks, all of you, for those words of wisdom. The bit about the torn notes being issued by banks was interesting.... another good reason for using ATMs, where, I guess, torn notes wouldn't go through the system!

mr pastry

Banks in Varanassi and Haridwar tried to fob us with torn notes hidden in the pile. Best to check them in front of the teller while still at the counter

shere

Yes count all your wads of notes before you leave the branch even if they are stapled. It is not unknown for a few 500 rupee notes to go missing from a huge wad.

As for what curency to take. The best recognised currency in India is the US $, GB £ and the Euro. I have seen a few places that change Aus $.

magnus

Great thread! I was thinking about this and especially wondering if and to what extent Euro notes are recognised and accepted for exchange in India. Anybody with recent experiences that can confirm?

I will be travelling Mumbai-Rajastahn-Delhi-Himachal and back and should be able to search and find decent banks in the bigger cities along the way (although the post about the armed guys up the dark alleys made me spill my coffee).

Tx

shere

I know for sure that you will not have any problems in Delhi or Mumbai. Even the black market exchangers in Delhi recognise them as a few approached me asking if I wanted to change them to Euros. Avoid changing with these black market traders as the rate you get is not worth the trouble it can be.

Those Western Union money transfer places also exchange Euros. Even the small one man money exchange centres in Jullundhar accept Euros.

sky888

what ever money you bring, and exchange in INdia, you must keep the receipt.

Many train stations requires your receipt if you are paying in rupees

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magnus

Ref the rupies, what notes should one aim at carrying, and which ones are best avoided?

I understand that you should carefully avoid torn notes, but is there any 'upper limit' on what's widely accepted (eg here in Spain you're frowned upon if you try to pay for example a taxi with a 50€ note)?

cyberhippie

As hard as it is I advise taking Euro/Dollars/GBpounds, These are accepted everywhere!!
Changing your Aussie notes is possible but it will entail tracking down the bank or change outfit that has the latest exchange rates from head office.
If the bank doesn't have the latest exchange rates then they simply won't change the money/cheques.
Take a bit in the aforementioned currencies and try to use your ATM card as much as possible to keep you in cash and use the cash/cheques as an emergency (there are still many places along the way without ATM so plan carefully and make sure you've got a good back up)
Torn notes are problem but it's worth noting that you can change them at a branch of The State Bank Of India, if your handed torn notes smile and politley refuse them it's not a problem!!
The only denomination that is sometimes problimatical is the 500 rp note this might take a visit to all the neighbouring taxi
businesses before you get you change back other denominations are fine in really out of the way villages 100 may also cause a problem but generally these are fine!!
When traveling it's a good idea to build up a little fund of 10 rupee notes and change unless you want to kiss goodbye to your change when you buy a chai or samosa!!

magnus

Thanks cyberhippe!

Anyone knows if and to what extent the (European) VISA Electron card works in the Indian ATM's?