This is a wiki crowdsourced by the Monzo Community to help you travel with Monzo.
Just like Wikipedia, anyone can edit it to help out others. If you have any tips or feedback for visiting India with Monzo, please feel free to edit this guide. You can also add a comment or question below — someone will then incorporate your comment into the main text below and then delete your comment. To create your own “Monzo in …” guide if one doesn’t already exist, just copy this template into a new post and write away!
Safe travels!
Currency
India uses the Rupee (â‚ą).
Monzo users pay the Mastercard exchange rate with no added fees.
Card usage
Works fine overall! India are going trying to go digital fast and most restaurants/shops have card machines which you can use the card. Make sure you pay in Rupees. If you don’t you’ll pay fees and get a bad exchange rate.
ATMs
All ATM’s use magnetic stripe so make sure you enable the mag stripe temporarily in your settings.
As a result of demonetisation many ATMs don’t have any cash in them. Take pounds to change as a backup and pay on Monzo where possible.
Some funded ATMs will not work, regardless of magstripe settings. Even within the same bank, some ATMs will work whilst others will not. It is worth trying all of the models. Error messages include: “dynamic exchange rate failed, use m/c exchange rate”, “card not recognized”, “issuer unavailable” and “unable to read card”.
Working ATMs
State Bank of India (No fee)
ICICI (â‚ą200 per transaction)
Unsuccessful ATMs
City Union Bank (CUB)
Indicash
Catholic Syrian Bank (“issuer unavailable”)
India ATM
Dhanlaxmi Bank
Payment and withdrawal limits
All Monzo cards have some payment and withdrawal limits. To check yours before you leave, go to your Profile section of the app and tap on Limits.
Most ATM’s have a maximum withdrawal of ₹10,000 per transaction but multiple withdrawals are usually supported. Try again if you need more cash.
Crowdsourced merchant data
The Monzo merchant data is often incorrect (eg. the map shows the wrong location or the name of the place is not correct). Please submit improvements to this data so it can get better for future visitors.
Miscellaneous
To edit this guide, just tap the pencil icon below. Alternatively, add a reply with your comments and someone from the community will incorporate your suggestions into the guide and then delete your comment.