You are home with USD 380 sitting on a card. There are three legitimate things to do with it and one expensive thing people do by default, which is nothing at all.
Option one: keep it for the next trip
Cards are typically valid for three to five years, and holding foreign exchange on a card is permitted within the retention rules. If another trip is realistically within a year, keeping the balance avoids two conversions — out and back in — and each conversion costs you the spread.
The thing to check is an inactivity fee. Some cards begin charging a monthly amount after a period of dormancy, and a small balance can be eaten quietly. Ask, and diarise it.
Option two: encash it
- The balance is converted at the dealer's buy rate, which is below the rate you loaded at. The spread is the cost of the round trip.
- There is usually a small encashment fee.
- Credit to your bank account typically takes a few working days.
- Bring the card, your PAN and the original transaction reference.
Option three: spend it down before you fly home
The cheapest option, and the one to plan for on the last day of a trip. Duty free, a meal, topping up something you will use. A balance spent at face value beats a balance converted twice.
The rule that decides your deadline
Unused foreign exchange must be surrendered to an authorised dealer within 180 days of your return, other than an amount you may retain — up to USD 2,000 in notes or on a card — for future use. Larger balances are not something to leave indefinitely.
A worked comparison
- 1USD 380 loaded at 89.00 cost ₹33,820.
- 2Encashed at a buy rate of 87.20, it returns ₹33,136, less a small fee. The round trip costs roughly ₹700.
- 3Kept for a trip within the year, it costs nothing — provided no inactivity fee applies.
- 4Spent abroad at face value, it costs nothing at all.
