[cyberhippie]

Don't make the mistake of thinking Citibank offices in India will be able to help you with home banking affairs, in my experience they might be the same company but that doesn't mean their databases are linked worldwide!!

Get a credit/ debit card from Visa or Mastercard or a debit card linked to Cirrus this way you can use the ATM of a whole list of banks throughout India

UTI
HDFC
HSBC
Grindleys
State Bank Of India
Citibank
ABN Amro

Are just a few who spring to mind!!

JW46 does your debit card have the Cirrus logo on it if so your all set!!

[Snowcrab]

I found I often had to visit a number of ATMs to find one that would accept my Canadian bank card. A particular nationwide bank that might accept it in one city would not do so in another. It was sometimes quite the hunt but always thank God I was successful. My card is a Cirrus.

Then I had my purse snatched and lost my ATM card altogether. My bank is really tight about security, would not let me take two cards with me when I went. I had worried about that before I left and had signed my daughter on as a shared account holder of my traveling funds so she was able to withdraw money with her card in Canada, trot over to Western Union and keep me in funds that way. Very annoying process and left me carrying more rupees than I really wanted to some of the time.

Now I have opened up two accounts with different banks and can transfer funds between them on the internet. Next time I can get past that one bank card thing by carrying cards from two different banks. If one gets stolen again I have a backup system in place. Then I just have to find out what machines will accept the second card.