Opening an Indian bank account

ColinT

Anyone know how easy it is for someone on a six month tourist visa to open a bank account in India? Is it possible and what will I need top show the bank?

alabamagoa

Any Non Resident indian can open a bank account, but some banks ! require you to keep RS10.000/- in it at all times, best thing is to open an account and if you need to withdraw all the money they will just close the account once empty,just depends on what your requirements are, documents are just passport.

Maheswara_shishya

I was wondering the same, I will have $25,000.00 US with me on my 3 month temple pilgrimage in India. (Yes i know thats a ton of money to be bringing but I will be making large donations to my ahsram and other Hindu funds).

Can you keep the money US and transfer to Rupee when needed? I'd suppose they'd rather have US in their banks because of the financial benifiets?

Thank you

alabamagoa

I know in some banks you can leave your sterling in an account,as my friend who lives in goa for 6 months does this and just transfers some at a time into rupees when rate is up, so i would guess this is possible !!!!! but im not sure if this sort of account is a current or saving? and then you would have to make sure you get an ATM card if travelling around.

john.sw

I'm with the SBT - State Bank of Travancore.

As a foreigner I can only deposit foreign currency.

I opened the account with £12 Sterling (Rs1600/-)

I have an ATM card and a cheque book.

There is no tax to pay on interest, unless you repatriate the money.

All I needed to open the account was a reference from another customer and my passport.

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ColinT

Interesting what you say John SW. I'm going to be putting cheques paid in Indian rupees into an account. I doubt if I'll be putting foreign currency into it. Going by what you say alabamagoa, this would seem to be OK. Am I right to assume this?

agni5454

Sorry, i tried doing that but only NRIs or PIOs can open bank accounts. No foreigners.

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edwardseco

Things must have changed since I had one..

GoanCanuck

You will need to have a residency certificate to do that.

snowcrab

One of my friends in India opened an Indian bank account his first visit, got an ATM no problem, just a passport,but he only puts foreign currency in it. His only problem has been that his Indian ATM card does not work in all of India so he still needs his overseas card. I wouldn't bother unless I needed to hide money somewhere other than in my home countries banking system, foreign cards work pretty good. If one machine won't take them another will.

I think the thing about rupees is that if you are in India on a visitors visa you are not suposed to be working or otherwise making money like selling that laptop you smuggled in. Also, if you want to repatriate money they only want you taking out of the country foreign funds you actually personally imported, not the bank's scarce supply of foreign funds converted from rupees you somehow (possibly illegally)acquired in India

johng

Foreigners can have an NRO account or a business account without problems. I have both with the ICICI bank.

alabamagoa

I have many friends who either live here or just tourists who have bank accounts, and do not have any problems, If you have international ATM cards you use in most all machines in india it may be a better way if travelling but you will get charged for using your card in ATM machines from your banks back home(most banks do)every time you withdraw money and get the exchange rate in your country at the time not in india which can be at times alot lower.but as people have said you cant take rupee's out of the country legally that is!!!!!!!!

goangoangone

I opened an NRO account with Corporation Bank http://www.corpbank.com/ while on a 6 month tourist visa. I needed to be introduced by an existing account holder. Usual ID etc.

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GoanCanuck

OK, I finally got the answers from India's central bank The Reserve bank Of India


1) Can foreign tourists open a bank account in India during their short visit ?

Yes. Foreign tourists during their short visit to India can open a Non-Resident (Ordinary) Rupee (NRO) account with any bank dealing in foreign exchange. Such account can be open upto a maximum period of 6 months.

2) What credits can be made to such accounts ?

Funds remitted from outside India or those obtained by sale of foreign exchange brought by the tourists to India can be credited to the NRO account.

3) Can the NRO account be used for making local payments ?

Yes.The tourists can freely make local payments by debit to the NRO account.

4) Can foreign tourists repatriate the balance held in their NRO account at the time of departure from India ?

Banks have been allowed to convert the balance in the account at the time of departure of the tourists into foreign currency provided the account has been maintained for a period not exceeding six months and the account has not been credited with any local funds, other than interest accrued thereon.

5) What can be done to repatriate the proceeds of an account that has been maintained for more than six months ?

In such cases, applications for repatriation of balance may be made on plain paper to the concerned Regional Office of Reserve Bank.

ColinT

That's some very useful info, thanks. Just to clarify this -


"2) What credits can be made to such accounts ?

Funds remitted from outside India or those obtained by sale of foreign exchange brought by the tourists to India can be credited to the NRO account."


From this it appears that I can store my exchanged rupees in the account. But maybe if someone in India gives me a cheque in rupees then it can't be deposited.