Aussies left in the lurch amid India’s cash crisis

INDIA’S snap decision to remove 80 per cent of its cash from circulation has left a number of Australian travellers virtually penniless.

Australians Emily Kaelin and her boyfriend Jack are spending a year travelling.

AUSTRALIAN travellers have been left in the lurch, following the Indian government’s snap decision to demonetise their high-value currency.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week declared the 500 and 1000 rupee notes (equivalent to about $10 and $20 Australian dollars) were to be removed from circulation, and would no longer be legal tender. The radical move is designed to flush out billions of dollars worth of undeclared wealth, or so-called “black money”.

Emily Kaelin, from Sydney, is currently in India with her boyfriend Jack.

The 28-year-old public relations manager said she was at Pondicherry, on the country’s east coast, when the announcement was made.

“I only heard the evening before it happened, so we basically had no warning, and couldn’t make any preparations,” she told news.com.au.

“We planned to stay in Pondicherry about four nights and ended up being stuck there for two weeks because we had no way of accessing cash.

“We didn’t have enough money to even pay off our accommodation, so needed to keep extending our stay in the hope that at some point, we could access some cash.”

Ms Kaelin, pictured in Varkala, was caught out by India’s cash crisis.

India is a predominantly cash-based economy, but Mr Modi said it’s time for the nation to embrace online banking, in a bid to tackle fraud and increase transparency.

However, the notes make up about 80 per cent of cash currently in circulation.

Ms Kaelin described the queues as “frenzied” with people desperate to exchange their worthless notes. Due limited reserves, banks have imposed limits on the amount of cash that can be withdrawn each transaction.

“We needed to keep returning to the bank and joining queues for hours,” she said.

“For a period of about five days, we spent hours each day on our rented scooter — which we also could not afford to pay off — scouting for a functioning ATM.

“Most of them don’t accept international cards and many were out of order, or kept running out of cash because of the phenomenal demand.”

Many times, she and her boyfriend would line up for an hour or more in the sweltering heat, only to arrive at the front and find out the ATM was empty.

Eventually, her mother was able to wire some money across from Australia, however, even then it was hard to use as no-one was able to give change.

Nicola Easterby, a 22-year-old photographer from Brisbane, is currently in Jaipur.

“It’s all been a bit of a nightmare,” she told news.com.au.

“My first two weeks in India I couldn’t get any cash ... even at the airport they would only exchange foreign currency, so getting money if you just had a bank card was near impossible.

“Every time you go to the ATM there is at least an hour queue and you can only get out 2000 rupees [about A$40] at a time.”

Earlier this week, video emerged of travellers from Australia and Europe busking and begging for money, after the crisis left them “virtually penniless”.

Around 10 or 12 travellers were seen dancing and playing instruments at Pushkar, in Rajasthan, displaying placards that read “You can help us” and “Money problem”.

An Australian called Jayden told theHindustan Times he was struggling to afford food and water.

“We came here on November 8 to see the famous Pushkar fair,” he said.

“The same night, the government of India announced demonetisation of 500 and 1000 rupee banknotes. Whatever change we had in 100 rupee and lower denominations are exhausted.”

Locals queue to exchange discontinued currency outside a bank in New Delhi.

“Everyone was pretty shocked initially and both foreigners and Indians have felt very frustrated. It was also very confusing initially as even officials you asked for advice didn’t really know what was going on and when cash would be available next,” Ms Kaelin told news.com.au.

“This made having a plan of attack very difficult. Locals have been protesting about the reform in some areas.

“We developed some camaraderie with another couple in Pondicherry, we bunkered down with them there and would do daily group trips to hunt down ATMs together. We were able to see the humour in the situation despite being stuck.

“We’re thankful that we have a lot of time in India, it would have been a real shame if we were only here for a couple of weeks, and spent most of that time trying to withdraw cash.”