Tourist guides

English speaking tourist guides are available at all major tourist centres. Guides speaking other major international languages, can be found in the larger cities. Please contact the nearest Government of India Tourist Office. Un-approved tourist guides are not allowed access to protected monuments and tourists should make sure a guide has a license which has been issued by The Department of Tourism.

Opening hours

Opening hours can vary from region to region.
BANKS: 10:00 to 14:00 (Mon-Fri) and 10:00 to 12:00 (Sat.)
However most hotels in all major tourist centres have the facility to exchange money
POST: 10:00 to 17:00 (Mon-Fri) and Saturday mornings
OFFICES: 09:30 to 17:30 (Mon-Fri).

Time zone

The time difference in India is GMT plus 5.5 (+5-1/2 Hrs Ahead Of GMT) hours. This is the time difference throughout the Year. (There are no variations in summer or winter).

Electricity

Voltage in most places is 220 AC 50 cycles, though a few areas have DC supply as well. Tourists are advised however to check the voltage before using an appliance. Plugs used are of the round 2- and 3-pin type.

Photography

1. Photography with still camera and video camera is permitted at all monuments.

2. A special licence is needed to photograph ancient monuments using a flash and tripod. This licence can bissue by the Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi and the Concerned State Archaeology Departments.

3. Photographing in the wildlife reservations is allowed against payment of a fee, which varies from state to state.

4. Photographing in tribal areas is not permissible.

Currency

Rupee - 100 Paise. Coins to the value of 5, 10, 25, 50 Paise, and 1, 2 and 5 Rupees. Notes to the value of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, and 1000. For current exchange rate visit Businee India.

Communication

Telephone, Fax, Telegram, TelexInternational 24 hour service in the larger hotels, post offices in the bigger towns. Telephone calls can be direct dialled to most countries. IDD service is widely available all over India. Otherwise calls must be placed through the international operator. Country code: 91. Outgoing international code: 00. For Direct Dialling to USA 000117- AT&T, 000127-MCI, 000137-Sprint. There are telephone connections to the bigger cities, but some connections must be made by an operator. POST: The Postal service is quite good. Personal letters of tourists can be addressed and collected through the Tourist Mail Service counters at GPOs and India Tourist Offices in respective tourist centres.Postage stamps can also be bought in the hotels.

Currency restrictions

There are no import restrictions on money or traveller's cheques brought into the country by travellers. Cash, banknotes, or traveller's cheques up to a value of US $10,000 or equivalent, need not be declared on entry into the country. Tourists are advised to exchange cash or traveller's cheques only in banks or authorised exchange centres, and retain the receipts. This allows for re-exchange of currency on departure. Please note that no Indian currency is allowed to be imported or exported.

Airport Tax

Passengers embarking on journey to any place outside India from a Customs airport will have to pay an airport tax of Rs. 300.00. For journeys to Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives - Rs. 150.00.

Income Tax Clearance

All visitors who are not domiciled in India are exempted from income tax clearance certificates at the time of leaving the country provided that the total period spent in India does not exceed 6 months and that they were not engaged in gainful employment.

Customs Regulations

All personal objects which you need are free from duty, i.e., personal jewellery, one camera with twelve film magazines or five rolls of film. One mini-camerawith two reels of film. One pair of binoculars, one portable musical instrument, one video-camera, one record-player, with ten records, one transistor, one portable cassette player, one portable typewriter, as well as presents to the value of Rs. 500, 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 250 gram of tobacco and 1.00 Iitres of alcoholic or liquor are free of duty. Certain types of weapons are forbidden, and for those types which are allowed a possession-licence is required.The information contained in this brochure is a guide only, and can change without notice.

Geography

India shares borders to the northwest with Pakistan, to the north with China, Nepal and Bhutan, and to the east with Bangladesh and Myanmar. To the west lies the Arabian Sea, to the east the Bay of Bengal and to the south the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka lies off the southeast coast, and the Maldives off the southwest coast. The far northeastern states and territories are all but separated from the rest of India by Bangladesh as it extends northwards from the Bay of Bengal towards Bhutan. The Himalayan mountain range to the north and the Indus River (west) and Ganga River (east) form a physical barrier between India and the rest of Asia. The country can be divided into five regions: Western, Central, Northern (including Kashmir and Rajasthan), Eastern and Southern.

Languages

The official language is Hindi which is spoken by about 30% of the population; English is also often used for official or commercial purposes. In addition, 17 regional languages are recognised by the Constitution. These include Punjabi, Bengali, Gujrati and Oriya which are widely used in the north and Tamil and Telegu which are common in the south. Other regional languages are Marathi, Kannada and Malayalam. The Muslim population largely speak Urdu.

Press

There are numerous local dailies published in several languages. Many newspapers are in English, the most important include The Times of India, Indian Express, The Hindu, Hindustan Times, The Deccan Herald, The Economic Times, The Telegraph and The Statesman.