| New Delhi, India | 13 Nov 2016 | Asia Samachar |
If you can afford to delay your trip to India, you might as well do so. This is the advise of a number of Malaysians who are currently travelling in India.
The recent government decision to scrap the 1,000 and 500 Rupee notes have thrown the country into chaos, with travelers facing hardship to get hold of enough local currencies to go about their usual business.
“Even if you have a banking account with an Indian bank, it tough going. You can only withdraw Rp10,000 per transaction, twice a week. And you have to queue up, which can take hours,” one Malaysian who is presently in New Delhi tells Asia Samachar.
“I withdrew Rp10,000 today. I had to go to the bank twice. I went in the morning when the bank opened, and was told t come back at 1pm.”
For foreigners in New Delhi strapped of local currencies, he advised them to visit the State Bank of India (SBI) branch near Gurdwara Bangla Sahib.
As with other banks, the maximum limit for currency exchange is Rp4,000.
For those already in India, this is going to be a long weekend as Monday is a public holiday in New Delhi for Guru Nanak’s gurpurab.
On 8 Nov 2016, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise announcement that India was going to demonitise existing 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in what was he described as a ‘tough step’ to ‘rid this country of the termite-like corruption and black money’.
Almost overnight, the larger denominated Indian notes ere no longer tradeable, expect for some designated purposes.
This caught tourists and travelers by surprise as they usually pick up the larger notes when exchanging currencies abroad or plan to convert their currencies upon landing in India.
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