Most of what a visitor needs to know about money in India is published by one institution, in plain language, on its own website. Very little of it appears in travel guides, which tend to repeat rules that were superseded years ago.
What follows is drawn entirely from Reserve Bank of India pages and notifications. Where the Reserve Bank's own sources are ambiguous, this guide says so rather than resolving the ambiguity for you.
Which notes you will actually be handed
The Reserve Bank states that banknotes are currently issued in denominations of Rs 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 2000, and that coins are issued as 50 paise, Rs 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20. Printing of Rs 2 and Rs 5 notes has been discontinued, though notes issued earlier remain in circulation.
Every banknote the Reserve Bank has issued is legal tender at any place in India unless withdrawn from circulation. The Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series was introduced in 2016 and carries angular bleed lines on Rs 100 and above, plus a colour-contrast scheme for the partially visually impaired.
The 2000-rupee note, precisely
On 19 May 2023 the Reserve Bank announced the withdrawal of the Rs 2000 note from circulation while stating that it continues as legal tender. Banks were told to stop issuing it immediately. Printing had already ceased in 2018-19, and the value in circulation had fallen from Rs 6.73 lakh crore in March 2018 to Rs 3.62 lakh crore by March 2023.
Deposits into bank accounts were unrestricted; exchange for other denominations was limited to Rs 20,000 per transaction. The bank-branch facility ran to 7 October 2023, after which exchange continued at the Reserve Bank's 19 Issue Offices, still at Rs 20,000 at a time, "until further advice". By 31 August 2023, Rs 3.32 lakh crore had returned and about Rs 0.24 lakh crore remained outstanding — roughly 93 percent recovered.
For a visitor the conclusion is simple. You are very unlikely to receive one, a merchant may reasonably decline one, and if you do end up holding one your recourse is a bank, not a shop.
What you may carry across the border
The Reserve Bank's forex facilities guidance is explicit about inbound limits.
| Situation | Limit |
|---|---|
| Person resident outside India bringing in Indian notes | Up to Rs 25,000, entering only through an airport |
| Resident of India bringing in Indian notes | Up to Rs 25,000 |
| Arriving from Nepal or Bhutan | Notes above Rs 100 permitted, up to Rs 25,000 |
| Foreign exchange brought in | No upper limit |
| Currency Declaration Form required | Aggregate above USD 10,000, or notes alone above USD 5,000 |
The airport-only condition on bringing in rupees is easy to miss and applies to land crossings by omission.
ATMs and what they cost
The Reserve Bank sets minimum free-transaction entitlements and a ceiling on charges, though both are written for customers of Indian banks.
At your own bank's ATMs, a minimum of five free financial transactions a month regardless of location, with non-cash transactions free without limit. At other banks' ATMs, a minimum of three free transactions a month in the six metro centres — Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi — and a minimum of five elsewhere. Beyond the free limits, the Reserve Bank states that charges "cannot exceed a maximum of Rs 23 per transaction" plus applicable taxes.
None of this governs a card issued outside India. The free-transaction entitlements belong to an Indian bank's own account holders, and your international withdrawal fee is set by your home bank. Treat the Rs 23 ceiling as context for how Indian banking is priced rather than as a promise about your card.
Card rules that affect you at the counter
Two Reserve Bank rules change the experience of paying by card in India.
Since 1 January 2022, no entity in the card payment chain other than the card issuer and the card network may store actual card data. Merchants hold a token instead, unique to each card, merchant and token requestor, created only with explicit cardholder consent and an additional authentication factor. This is why Indian e-commerce asks you to re-enter a card that you saved on a previous visit.
Contactless payments up to Rs 5,000 per transaction may be made without additional authentication, excluding ATMs. Cash withdrawal at a merchant point of sale is capped at Rs 2,000 per transaction within a monthly limit of Rs 10,000, using a debit card or full-KYC prepaid card.
On surcharges, the Reserve Bank's card Master Direction requires that any convenience fee "shall be indicated to the cardholder in a transparent manner, prior to the transaction". It sets no cap. The rule is disclosure, not prohibition, so a fee quoted to you in advance is within the rules.
If you are handed a damaged note
This happens more often than visitors expect and the remedy is better than they expect. Under the Reserve Bank's Master Direction of 1 April 2025, all bank branches must exchange notes and coins for customers and non-customers alike, free of charge, on all working days.
Soiled notes up to 20 pieces or Rs 5,000 per day are exchanged over the counter. Mutilated or imperfect notes are adjudicated and paid the same day up to 10 pieces; beyond that, payment follows within 30 days.
What this guide does not cover
UPI access for foreign visitors is not covered. The National Payments Corporation of India, which administers UPI and the UPI One World facility for inbound travellers, blocked every attempt to reach its published rules for this guide. Eligibility by nationality, how a visitor obtains a wallet, limits, validity and refund of unused balance are therefore all absent rather than guessed at, and whether a foreign-issued card works against a UPI QR code is likewise unverified.
Point-of-sale terminal and card statistics are omitted. The Reserve Bank publishes monthly bank-wise figures but gates the files behind an anti-bot check that could not be passed.
Dynamic currency conversion — being offered a charge in your home currency at an Indian terminal — could not be matched to any Reserve Bank instruction, so nothing is stated about it.
The effective date and the underlying circular for the Rs 23 ATM charge cap could not be located, and the Reserve Bank's own FAQ describes itself as for general guidance only.
Airport foreign exchange counters at Delhi were not verifiable; the operator's site published no such information.
Currency rules change. Everything here was verified on 17 September 2026, and the Reserve Bank's own pages are authoritative on the day you travel.