Is it possible to open a temporary bank account where I could transfer some money to spend while in India in order to avoid big bank commissions when trying to withdraw money from ATM's?
I am not sure about this. As far as I know, in most countries, you need to be either a citizen or a resident in order to open a bank account.
Most banks in India would be happy to open a bank account for foreigners who are visiting on a tourist visa. You would need your passport, photographs and a local address (where ever you are staying) to be able to open an account. Once you have opened an account you can use ICICI Bank's "Money2India" service or PNB's similar service to transfer money from your own bank account in your home country to the new Indian bank account at good exchange rates with hardly any commission and then you would be able to withdraw money using the local ATM card across the country at any ATM machine.
You can try banking with the international banks that also operates in India, Standard Chartered Bank for instance.
If you have a Mastercard or Visa debit account, this may come in handy wherever you are in the world. Of course, put enough money to correspond with current exchange rates. I personally think that it's good to open a temporary bank account if you're staying in India for say a month or so. If it's only for a few days, then getting a temporary bank account would be time-consuming.
It just takes a ten min visit to any bank, not time consuming atall and you get to save a lot of money in the process.
Is that so? Well if that's the case then opening a bank account on a temporary basis might be feasible. But if the tourist intends to go to places away from the cities or is only in India for like 3 days (say, he arrives on Friday and has to leave Sunday night), there wouldn't be enough time to open one. In other circumstances, it would be okay.
Really? I had no idea it was so easy to open a bank account in India. At home, you have to be a resident if you want to open one.
That's a good idea and would certainly save you the fees that your bank would charge for ATM withdrawals. Using a credit card ends up costing you in fees too.
I did not know that it was as simple as this! It actually may come in handy to open a bank account once there. However, are some banks better than the others? Also, will you be able to have your ATM card as soon as you open your account or does it take too long?
It sounds like it's super convenient there for opening a bank account! Over here I actually worked for a bank for several years, and you could only open an account locally if you were a citizen or a permanent resident. That was really difficult for a lot of tourists visiting, because using their ATM card to withdraw cash would often incur them a $5-$10 fee from their home country's bank! Glad to hear India is very tourist friendly for accessing cash!
It is not possible as because for opening the bank acccount in any country you should be the resident of that country.
You are welcome. This info was already posted in my previous replies, only if you cared to read the whole thread.
A Charles Schwab bank account waves ATM fees. I use this when accessing money abroad. I would think it would be very difficult to open a temporary bank account, because I don't see why a bank would want that, or the hassle of dealing with a foreigner for a short duration. The US forces a lot of extra paperwork for foreign bank accounts, which means it generally costs these banks money to have American customers.
Thats the thing about India, most large banks are run by the government and making a profit is not the only motivation for them. This is one of those things they do without taking profits and losses into consideration.
That is nice to know about Indian banks. But it seems so strange. Even if it is easy, I would still recommend the use of an ATM and a card which waves fees. Or for that matter, any online banking, or paypal account. They would have more use over a longer time, especially as this was for a short duration.
