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Bandaranaike International Airport, Sri Lanka

Exchanging Indian Rupees in Sri Lanka

Posted on April 25, 2013May 17, 2021

I never thought exchanging Indian rupees would turn out to be such an adventure in Sri Lanka. I was carrying Indian rupees and some British pounds left over from previous trips to UK. I have a credit card and a debit card that work internationally. I thought this was enough for me to survive in Sri Lanka. I was right on every count except for the ease of changing Indian rupees. I am a little surprised as Indian rupees exchanges favorably with Sri Lankan rupees. You get anywhere from 1.90 to 2.20 Sri Lankan rupees for every Indian rupee.

Our first stop for trying to change the Indian rupees was the Bandarnaike International Airport . My nephew went in search for the hotel taxi that we had booked and I went to exchange money. I casually said, “can I change some Indian rupees?” And I was really surprised when I got to hear, “Sorry ma’am we don’t change Indian rupees, you can change it in the city.” The problem was we were not going to the city but straight to Unawatuna. Then I asked him to change some British pounds and that he readily did.

Galle, Sri Lanka

Galle, Sri Lanka

Galle is a big city near Unawatuna, it is approximately 8.5 kilometers away. We headed there on our second day and we were having a late snack in a restaurant near the fort (which is ruins of the fort actually) area. We asked if we could exchange Indian rupees anywhere in the city? And the young boy who was waiting on our table said he would exchange it but only 5K, they didn’t have more than that at the moment! I was reminded of Shantaram and the illegal money trade in Mumbai but I did went ahead and exchanged the money. We got the rate of 2.20 and I was not complaining.

Then my nephew tried to change the money at the bank at Unawatuna and once again he was told that they would exchange pounds but not Indian rupees! I wonder what was the reason. Informally we were told by many people that the jewellery shops would exchange money. I wonder why this was the case.

Matara, Sri Lanka

Matara, Sri Lanka

Our last try was to try and exchange money at a jewellery shop at Matara, another big city but we once again got a blank. They told us of other places that would exchange Indian rupees but we had money so we did not try any further. In the end my nephew did exchange Indian rupees at a jewellery shop in Unawatuna but overall this made for a strange experience.

I don’t think this would happen in a city like Colombo but it is beyond me that the airport and the bank didn’t exchange Indian rupee when a lot of cars/trucks on the Sri Lankan roads are Indian!

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28 thoughts on “Exchanging Indian Rupees in Sri Lanka”

  1. Anupam says:
    April 25, 2013 at 12:18 pm

    Very Informative and Interesting as well 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      February 11, 2015 at 4:25 pm

      Thank you so much Anupam.

      Reply
  2. Lady Fi says:
    April 25, 2013 at 12:20 pm

    What an adventure!

    Love your shots – especially the composition of the first one.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      February 11, 2015 at 4:25 pm

      Thank you so much Lady Fi.

      Reply
  3. Arun says:
    April 25, 2013 at 12:50 pm

    May be fear of counterfeit currency? But jewellery shop part of the story is amusing.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      February 11, 2015 at 4:27 pm

      Could be the fear as you mention Arun.

      Reply
  4. Niranjan says:
    April 25, 2013 at 1:36 pm

    Interesting experience. Useful too.

    http://rajniranjandas.blogspot.in/2013/04/pregnant-clouds-and-sensuous-lake.html

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      February 11, 2015 at 4:27 pm

      Thank you so much Niranjan.

      Reply
  5. rupam { xhobdo } says:
    April 25, 2013 at 1:42 pm

    Thanks a lot sharing .Beautiful post and awesome photos 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      February 11, 2015 at 4:28 pm

      Thank you Rupam.

      Reply
  6. Meena Menon says:
    April 25, 2013 at 2:02 pm

    We echanged at India airport but yes when we ran out of srilankan currency in middle of nowhwere it was a jewellery shop that came to our rescue!

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      February 11, 2015 at 4:29 pm

      I wonder was was it about jewellery shops and Indian currency in Sri lanka Meena. 😀

      Reply
  7. Rat says:
    April 25, 2013 at 10:16 pm

    nice post and pictures.. Sri Lanka at its beauty.. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      February 11, 2015 at 4:29 pm

      Thank you Rat.

      Reply
  8. BiYaGo says:
    April 26, 2013 at 12:09 am

    Nice post.

    Technology News

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      February 11, 2015 at 4:30 pm

      Thank you.

      Reply
  9. Aziz Ampanwala says:
    April 26, 2013 at 10:29 am

    Beautiful shot of Sri Lanka ! and yes a nice read too …

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      February 11, 2015 at 4:31 pm

      Thank you Aziz.

      Reply
  10. Shalu Sharma says:
    April 28, 2013 at 12:20 am

    I think this is to do with politics. I am not in favour of anyone going to Sri Lanka considering what has been happening to our Tamil friends over there.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      February 11, 2015 at 4:33 pm

      Shalu that is an interesting point of view.

      Reply
  11. Anuradha Shankar says:
    April 28, 2013 at 8:43 am

    thats interesting. it wouldnt be something I would expect either….

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      February 11, 2015 at 4:34 pm

      It did catch me by surprise Anu.

      Reply
  12. Amiya says:
    December 10, 2013 at 12:01 pm

    Thanks for this post! I’m going to Sri Lanka in a week and was wondering whether I could simply carry INR and get it converted to LKR at the Colombo airport – now I won’t depend entirely on that option!

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      February 11, 2015 at 4:34 pm

      Happy to be of help Amiya.

      Reply
  13. diana says:
    February 11, 2015 at 10:59 am

    I run into the same problem in Nepal, an
    yes we could change the nepalee rupees to indian only under counter, in the shops, hotels etc..jewellery shop is a good idea cos they usually work have lot of money. I expext the same problem to happen in sri lanka- btw it is because they dont have stock in indian currency therrfore all of sri lanka lacks indian rs. and they dont habe the stock because tjese saarc countries dont do business between each other, it’s not profitable to trade in their local currencies.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      February 11, 2015 at 4:35 pm

      Thank you so much for sharing your experience Diana.

      Reply
  14. Romesh says:
    July 20, 2015 at 7:04 pm

    Indian Rupee is a closed currency and therefore taking rupees in or out of the country is illegal. That is why you cannot change it in a legal exchange place other than Jewellery shop or any other trading places. It is quite surprising to find this out but even if you take Indian rupees out of India to any other country legally you cannot change them.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      July 20, 2015 at 7:39 pm

      This is something I am hearing for the first time! Let me also explore more.

      Reply

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About Me

I am Mridula Dwivedi and I started this blog in 2005. It has been an amazing ride. I have visited 33 countries till date! I have worked with many tourism boards and prominent travel companies. My blog was featured on the BBC and the Guardian.

I did my Ph.D. from IIT Kanpur. I worked full time in academics till 2015! I quit my job as a professor, thinking I will take a break for one year, which turned into five.

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