I am visiting family here in Kerala on a tourist visa.
I go to 3 different Indian banks in Trivandrum to change US dollars into Indian rupees......and we are only talking about less than USD $500, not some crazy large amount. All 3 banks tell me the same thing.....that they cannot change foreign currency unless I have an account with the bank.
I'm a tourist for God's sake; here only for 6 weeks...WTF would i want to open a bank account in India for ?? I even had my US passport with me to prove that I am a tourist....but, no it cant be done.
Why does a country that wants to promote tourism make it so difficult for tourists to convert their foreign currency to Indian rupees and spend it in India. Maybe they dont want tourists to spend their money...eh ??
I can understand government being inefficient, but these are private banks.
I have never seen a country so steeped in nonsensical policies like India. There is just no common sense/logic or rationale applied to policy making.
In ASEAN countries like Malaysia, THailand, and Singapore.....i can just walk into any bank and change USD into local currency.
Even the most trivial stuff like changing currency becomes a huge drama in India.
How does a country like this even get anything done ??
I go to 3 different Indian banks in Trivandrum to change US dollars into Indian rupees......and we are only talking about less than USD $500, not some crazy large amount. All 3 banks tell me the same thing.....that they cannot change foreign currency unless I have an account with the bank.
I'm a tourist for God's sake; here only for 6 weeks...WTF would i want to open a bank account in India for ?? I even had my US passport with me to prove that I am a tourist....but, no it cant be done.
Why does a country that wants to promote tourism make it so difficult for tourists to convert their foreign currency to Indian rupees and spend it in India. Maybe they dont want tourists to spend their money...eh ??
I can understand government being inefficient, but these are private banks.
I have never seen a country so steeped in nonsensical policies like India. There is just no common sense/logic or rationale applied to policy making.
In ASEAN countries like Malaysia, THailand, and Singapore.....i can just walk into any bank and change USD into local currency.
Even the most trivial stuff like changing currency becomes a huge drama in India.
How does a country like this even get anything done ??