Cash or card in India? Rupees, UPI, ATMs and tipping

The rupee: notes, coins and the notes to refuse

India's currency is the Indian rupee (INR, written ₹), divided into 100 paise. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issues notes of ₹10, ₹20, ₹50, ₹100, ₹200 and ₹500, and coins of 50 paise and 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 rupees. Older ₹1, ₹2 and ₹5 notes can still turn up in change and remain legal tender, and any bank must exchange a soiled note for its full value, for customers and non-customers alike.

Two notes need a second look. The ₹2000 note has been withdrawn from circulation but is still legal tender; it can now be exchanged only at the RBI's 19 Issue Offices, up to ₹20,000 at a time, so decline one in your change. The old Mahatma Gandhi series ₹500 and ₹1000 notes issued up to 8 November 2016 ceased to be legal tender that night: if someone hands you one, hand it back.

For scale, the reference rates the RBI published at 1.00 pm on 6 November 2026 were INR 94.1402 to the US dollar, INR 105.3758 to the euro, INR 126.3870 to the pound and INR 59.6200 to 100 yen.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

Card or cash: where a foreign card works

Debit and credit cards are accepted by most larger banks and in upmarket hotels, restaurants and shopping centres, and India's tourism ministry lists contactless cards and UPI among the popular ways to pay. Use the card in those places, and rupees everywhere else.

Carry a credit card even where you pay in cash, because it helps when cash is hard to get, especially in rural areas. Take out each day only the cash you need that day, and leave other valuables behind. Our estimate from the prices in this guide: two monuments such as the Red Fort and Humayun's Tomb cost INR 1,200 in cash at the gate (INR 1,100 online), not counting meals, small shops and rides; buy the Taj ticket online so it does not come out of your cash. Our India trip-cost guide budgets the meals and rides.

When a card terminal or an ATM offers to charge you in your home currency, choose rupees. Visa explains that this offer, dynamic currency conversion, includes an exchange rate and additional fees, that merchants and ATMs should let you choose and must not choose for you, and that declining does not affect the purchase or withdrawal.

Card skimming is common in India, along with internet and confidence scams, so take the usual care with a card in restaurants, in shops, at ATMs and when you book online, and pay where you can see the terminal.

ATMs, money changers and the encashment certificate

Before you fly, ask your own bank what it charges for a foreign withdrawal and what your daily limit is, read the ATM screen for any fee before you confirm, and pack a second card on a different network (a Visa and a Mastercard, for example) in case one is refused. Keep every ATM slip: with it, a bank or money changer may change up to INR 50,000 back into foreign currency when you leave. A UPI wallet for visitors does not replace an ATM: Cheq UPI's cannot yet withdraw cash.

You can change foreign currency at the airports, at hotels, at money changers approved by the RBI and at selected local banks. Airport exchange counters placed between immigration and customs may only buy foreign currency and sell rupees, and they must always give you an encashment certificate; elsewhere, a money changer issues one when you ask. When a money changer buys foreign currency from a foreign visitor, it may pay out cash only up to the equivalent of USD 3,000 per transaction; it may also sell you rupees against an international credit or debit card.

Four habits cover the rest: count the notes at the counter, change only what you need for the next few days, keep every encashment certificate and ATM slip with your passport for changing rupees back, and keep a second card in a different place from the first.

UPI: the phone wallet for visitors

UPI, India's Unified Payments Interface, is a popular way to pay by phone, and since 2023 the RBI has let foreign visitors use it through a prepaid wallet linked to UPI. The issuer checks your physical passport and visa, you load the wallet with foreign currency, in cash or by card, and the balance may not exceed INR 200,000 at any time. It pays merchants only, so you cannot use it to send money to a person, and unused money can be paid out in foreign currency or sent back to the card or account it came from.

Cheq UPI, whose wallet is topped up at the branches of Transcorp International, one of the first four issuers the RBI named, shows how it works. Download the app and register before you fly. The in-person check needs your original passport, a valid visa and the immigration stamp with your date of entry, so it happens after you land, at a branch or with an agent you book in the app, in listed cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur and Agra; no airport counter is listed. Eligibility depends on your passport, so check it in the app when you register. A card top-up costs about 3.5% (a 2.95% fee plus taxes), payments carry no fee, and you can add only INR 5,000 in the first 24 hours. Keep a card and rupees as well.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

Monuments, the e-Visa and trains

At the monuments of the Archaeological Survey of India, paying online is cheaper. Visitors in its 'other foreign visitor' category pay INR 600 per head in cash or INR 550 online at the Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb and the Qutb Minar, and children under 15 enter free. The ASI lists Agra Fort at the same INR 600 in cash or INR 550 online.

The Taj Mahal in Agra costs a foreign visitor INR 1,100, which already includes the Agra Development Authority's INR 500 toll, plus INR 200 for a second ticket to enter the main mausoleum. Buy online, where the foreigner's ticket is INR 50 cheaper (INR 1,250 for both tickets); the ticket windows at the Western and Eastern Gates open from one hour before sunrise to 45 minutes before sunset. Children under 15 pay nothing, and the Taj is closed every Friday. Because the toll comes with the Taj ticket, a foreign visitor needs no further toll ticket at Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's Tomb or Itimad-ud-Daulah's tomb the same day.

The e-Visa is paid by debit or credit card through the SBIePay gateway, or by PayPal, and bank transaction charges of 3% are added to the fee, which is not refunded. Our India entry guide gives the fee for each passport.

Trains are booked online with IRCTC on the Foreign Tourist quota, as our first trip to India guide explains: the fare is 1.5 times the base fare plus other charges such as the reservation fee, IRCTC adds a service charge of INR 200 plus GST per ticket, payment is taken only by international debit or credit card, and you carry your original passport and visa on the train. The first trip guide also gives IRCTC's fee for opening an account. You can also book at the station itself rather than through tourist agents, who may raise the price or claim that a train is full. At New Delhi Railway Station, Indian Railways' International Tourist Bureau, on the first floor of the station building, helps foreign tourists with bookings and reservations round the clock.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

Metro, taxis and app cabs

From Delhi airport, the Airport Express Line of the metro runs from Terminal 3 to New Delhi Railway Station in about 25 minutes, and Terminal 2 is a short walk or shuttle ride from Terminal 3; the Magenta Line serves Terminal 1 from an underground station a 5 to 7 minute walk away. Delhi Airport lists ticket machines in the Terminal 3 and Terminal 2 arrivals areas and at the Terminal 1 metro station, so buy the ticket there; have small rupee notes ready. This guide gives no metro fare. Our trip-cost guide budgets the Airport Express metro, auto-rickshaws and short rides each day.

For rides, app-based taxis such as Uber and Ola are widely available, including in every airport terminal building, and Uber's India site says riders pay in cash or by a payment method such as a credit card, depending on the region. Prepaid taxis are also available at the airports, where you pay before the ride; take the government prepaid taxis, painted black and green, at the airport exit. The UK Foreign Office advises against travelling alone and hailing taxis in the street in India, especially at night.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

Service charges, tipping and bargaining

No hotel or restaurant may add a service charge to the bill automatically or by default. Under guidelines of the Central Consumer Protection Authority of 4 July 2022, a restaurant must tell you that any service charge is voluntary, optional and entirely at your discretion, and the Delhi High Court upheld these guidelines on 28 March 2025, holding that mandatory collection is contrary to law. An advisory of 25 March 2026 adds that 'LPG charges', 'gas charges' and similar extras may not be added by default either: the price on the menu is the final price, apart from applicable taxes. The 2022 guidelines also say that a service charge may not be added to the food bill and that no GST may be levied on it. If a service charge or a similar charge is added by default, report it to the National Consumer Helpline on 1915 (toll-free).

Kerala Tourism's advice for visitors to Kerala is that tipping is not mandatory but ensures good service, and that bargaining is common in local markets and shops; it gives no tip amount. Ask the price at a few stalls before you settle on one, and pay with small notes.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

Scams that cost money, and who to call

France's travel advice lists three scams that cost money directly. Gem and jewellery deals come first: dishonest sellers, mainly in Rajasthan, Goa and Dharamsala, offer to ship jewellery or precious stones home for you and then make fraudulent charges on your card or raise the price without your consent. Buy only what you can carry away and pay for on the spot.

Touts come second. At Indira Gandhi International Airport and at New Delhi's railway stations, travel-agency touts send visitors to pseudo-official agencies selling overpriced tours; Germany's Foreign Office adds that in New Delhi and other cities, and especially in central New Delhi, tour operators with aggressive sales methods occasionally push visitors into overpriced trips, regularly presenting themselves as 'government approved'. The Ministry of Tourism's helpline, 1800 11 1363, gives advice on reputable services and takes complaints about a company.

Pickpockets come third. They work busy places such as stations and markets, and many work Delhi's buses; 60 to 70% of the thefts reported to the French embassy involve rail travellers, notably between Agra, Varanasi and Kolkata. Keep money and documents on you in an inside pouch, not in a back pocket, a shoulder bag or the pockets of a backpack.

If you lose money to fraud or a card scam, report it to the local police and keep a copy of the report for your insurer; cybercrime can also be reported on the National Cybercrime Helpline, 1930. In an emergency, call 112; the police helpline is 100. Our India health and safety guide covers the risks that are not about money.

Cash at the border, and changing rupees back

You can bring foreign currency into India without any limit, but you must declare it to Customs at the airport on the Currency Declaration Form (CDF) on arrival if your foreign currency notes, bank notes and travellers cheques together exceed USD 10,000, or your foreign currency notes alone exceed USD 5,000. A visitor may bring in rupee notes up to INR 25,000, but only when entering through an airport; this does not apply to citizens of Pakistan or Bangladesh, or to travellers coming from or going to those countries; separate rules apply when arriving from Nepal or Bhutan. When you leave, you may take out no more foreign currency than you brought in. Our India entry guide has the other customs rules.

Before you fly home, spend your rupees or change them back. Banks and money changers convert unspent rupees into foreign currency against a valid encashment certificate. If for a genuine reason you cannot show one, they may at their discretion change up to INR 10,000 if you leave within the next seven days. They may also change back up to INR 50,000 for foreign tourists against ATM slips, if you show your passport and visa, a ticket confirmed for departure within seven days, the original ATM slip and the card you withdrew with.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026