FF

Hi All,
While in Africa it was customary to tip in US dollars...is that feasible in India?
Thanks in advance!
f2

lcuy

The currency of India is the Rupee. If you tip in dollars, they won't be able to spend it without spending time to go to a bank or currency exchange, then paying a fee to get rupees.

I hope you'll be giving out big tips to make that worth all that!

kaneda

At a museum somewhere in India a few decades ago, tipping was forbidden but a guard asked me if I had any english coins or notes "for his children". Money is money is money.


If you want to see real greed, go to Egypt.

Kathie

greed? No need for nasty comments, this is the way these people are able to live. Just because we have more financial resources doesn't make us less greedy.

Yes, they will take US dollars, but show some respect for them and use the local currency as it will make it easier for them to trade the money for the things they need like food and shelter.

Cicerone

It is not necessary or appropriate to tip in US Dollars in India. In the first place, there are ATMs all over the place, so you will be able to get access to Rupees quite easily, which may not have been the case in Africa. In the second place, the Indian economy is quite stable (in fact booming, consider investing in the stock market); again not the case with many African currencies with rampant inflation where people are really happy to have “hard” currency like the US Dollar and the Euro. Finally, virtually all foreign currency restrictions on the Rupee have been lifted by the Reserve Bank of India and therefore any advantage to having Dollars no longer exists. While that may have been the case in India about 10 years ago, that is no longer the case now. People will of course take your Dollars, but don’t need them in quite the same sense that they would in an Africa country with raging inflation and a weak or non-exchangeable currency.

Kudos to Fodors for removing that comment from Texasslim!

Neil_Oz

Cicerone, unfortunately they also removed my response to Texasslim, which confirmed my long-held belief that the best way of dealing with bigots is not to censor them but let them expose themselves to ridicule.

(Thought - maybe the editors are so humourless and literal-minded that they took my tongue-in-cheek reply as agreeing with Texasslim! Now, there's a real worry.)

FanofIndia

people who handle foreign currency have to be licensed at currency exchangers, therefore if you gave a tip in Dollars, they would have to go to a 'bent' dealer to get what probably would be a much less exchange rate. Giving Rupees, you know what that value will be to the recipient.
In small palaces now, there is a box at Reception for you to give a tip to the whole staff in recognition of your experience. Thus it is not only the one who brings you a clean plate, but also the person who cleans it. extremely FAIR.

Cicerone

Just to clarify FanofIndia's post, in almost every country in the world where you want to exchange foreign currency, you have to go to a licensed exchange dealer (which includes a bank ATM now a days), this is no order to prevent/keep track of things like money laundering etc. It has nothing to do with Indian foreign exchange regulations, which are virtually non-existent these days. Indians can go to licensed dealers to exchange money, as well as going to exchange them on the "blackmarket", as can most people wanting to exchange currency can also do in their own countries.

Dukey

I'd still like to know where in Africa it is "customary" to tip in Dollars.


I can understand folks' desire for "hard" currency but I wonder if "customary" is another term for "lazy" in this case.

Neil_Oz

My thoughts too, Dukey. This reminds me of similar posts about how overjoyed the Chinese are to be tipped in US$. I still can't figure out why, and so far nobody has come up with a convincing explanation. My guess is that in China at any rate, people are happy to get tipped in almost any currency. Chinese travellers (who of course make up the vast majority of tourists in China) never tip anybody for anything, and consider anyone who does as having more money than sense.

FF

Thank you for your feedback. It's quite interesting that a simple question posed to sincerely understand what is most appropriate can evoke such judgement!! Rather more the problem of the judges, as I am grateful to better understand how to conduct myself while in India. I will be sure to tip in rupees.

FYI: Tanzanians much prefer dollars.

chartley

I am always to surprised to see US dollars left in museum collection boxes in the U.K. What is the thinking behind this? Presumably tourists to Britain will have British pounds in their pockets, so why not leave those? Dollar bills will have to be changed somewhere, and this will take time and incur costs. It is not just Amerivans who have this problem. We stayed at a hotel in Washington DC, and a member of staff asked if I could exchange some British pound coins which had been given him as a tip.