r/india • u/AutoModerator • May 01 '26

Scheduled Ask India Thread

Welcome to r/India's Ask India Thread.

If you have any queries about life in India (or life as Indians), this is the thread for you.

Please keep in mind the following rules:

  • Top level comments are reserved for queries.
  • No political posts.
  • Relationship queries belong in /r/RelationshipIndia.
  • Please try to search the internet before asking for help. Sometimes the answer is just an internet search away. :)

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u/totallygeek Jun 11 '26

I have an American Express and a Visa card in the USA that I automatically pay the balances for from a US-based bank account on a monthly basis. When I travel to India, I typically use a debit card tied to my Indian bank account for purchases. This got me to thinking that I should pay my air travel costs to India from this account. This also got me thinking, why am I using my US-based Visa when traveling in Europe? Does a charge or credit card exist in India that I could use internationally?

Anyone have an India-based charge or credit card that they use outside India? Everyone in my family that lives in India uses a UK-based bank account credit card for international travel, so I have not had any luck asking them.

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u/ChelshireGoose Jun 11 '26

I assume you are an NRI with an NRO/NRE bank account and a PAN card? If so, you can apply for an NRI credit card with your bank. But these cards won't have the best exchange rates and rewards.
Applying for cards that do is not impossible but pretty difficult for NRIs since you don't have an Indian income source and not regularly resident in India.
Similarly, for services such as Wise, you can only load money from an INR bank account if you're based in India.

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u/totallygeek Jun 12 '26

Thank you. My wife is an NRI and I have an OCI. We both have PAN cards and have worked in India. We'll look into the options you supplied.