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India Money and Shopping: Changing money
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The Indian rupee is not officially convertible, and a few government-run shops will still insist on seeing official exchange receipts if you're visibly a foreigner and attempt to pay in rupees instead of hard currency. Rates for exchanging rupees overseas are often poor and importing rupees is theoretically illegal, although places with significant Indian populations (eg. Dubai, Singapore) can give decent rates. Try to get rid of any spare rupees before you leave the country.
Outside airports you can change your currency at any one of the numerous foreign exchange conversion units including banks. Some of the more common foreign exchange merchants are Travelex www.travelex.com/in and Thomas Cook www.thomascook.co.in.
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In big cities, there are now ATMs where you can get rupees against your international debit or credit card (maximum amount is 25,000 - 50,000 rupees depending on the ATM). State Bank of India (SBI) is the biggest bank in India and has the most ATM's. ICICI bank has the second largest network of ATMs, and accepts most of the international cards at a nominal charge. International banks like Citibank, HSBC, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, ABN Amro, Standard Chartered etc. have significant presence in major Indian cities. It is always worthwhile to have bank cards or credit cards from at least two different providers, to ensure that you have a backup available in case one card is suspended by your bank, or simply doesn't work at a particular ATM.
In many cities and towns, credit cards are accepted at retail chain stores and other restaurants and stores. Small businesses and family-run stores almost never accept credit cards, so it is useful to keep a moderate amount of cash on hand.
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