On 27 August 2026, one Indian rupee bought more than one unit of local currency in more than thirty countries, and it goes furthest in Vietnam, where INR 1 buys about 273 dong. A rupee also buys 186 Indonesian rupiah, 124 Uzbek som and 42 Cambodian riel. What that does not tell you is whether the country is cheap, which is a separate question with a separate answer.
This guide is maintained by Zurich Kotak General Insurance, an IRDAI-registered general insurer in India and part of the Zurich Insurance Group.
How Zurich Kotak fits in: A good exchange rate shrinks the daily spend and never the hospital bill: Zurich Kotak’s Smart Travel plans cover emergency medical treatment abroad, medical evacuation and repatriation, up to the limits of the plan you buy. Cover is bought per trip against your destination, your dates and each traveller’s age, and is issued online once those are fixed. For the Asian destinations high on this list, the Asia geography runs two tiers, Excel with sum insured up to USD 100,000 and Prime up to USD 500,000.
Last verified: 2026-08-27.
The list: where 1 rupee buys more than 1 local unit
Rates below were sourced on 2026-08-27 against an anchor of 1 USD = 95.376 INR, cross-checked against mid-market rates on the major pairs. Currency markets move daily, so treat these as the position on that date and check before you convert.
Country | Currency | 1 INR buys | What 1 local unit is worth |
Vietnam | VND (dong) | 273.0 | 100 VND = INR 0.37 |
Laos | LAK (kip) | 233 to 236 | 1,000 LAK = INR 4.26 |
Indonesia | IDR (rupiah) | 186.0 | 1,000 IDR = INR 5.38 |
Uzbekistan | UZS (som) | 123.8 | 1,000 UZS = INR 8.08 |
Guinea | GNF (franc) | 92.1 | INR 0.011 |
Paraguay | PYG (guarani) | 62.8 | INR 0.016 |
Madagascar | MGA (ariary) | 45.3 | INR 0.022 |
Cambodia | KHR (riel) | 42.3 | INR 0.024 |
Uganda | UGX (shilling) | 39.2 | INR 0.026 |
Mongolia | MNT (tugrik) | 38.1 | INR 0.026 |
Colombia | COP (peso) | 32.4 | INR 0.031 |
Burundi | BIF (franc) | 31.2 | INR 0.032 |
Tanzania | TZS (shilling) | 27.8 | INR 0.036 |
DR Congo | CDF (franc) | 24.0 | INR 0.042 |
Argentina | ARS (peso) | 15.86 | INR 0.063 |
Rwanda | RWF (franc) | 15.5 | INR 0.065 |
South Korea | KRW (won) | 14.5 | INR 0.069 |
Nigeria | NGN (naira) | 14.2 | INR 0.071 |
Iraq | IQD (dinar) | 13.74 | INR 0.073 |
Chile | CLP (peso) | 9.57 | INR 0.10 |
Kazakhstan | KZT (tenge) | 4.81 | INR 0.21 |
Costa Rica | CRC (colon) | 4.76 | INR 0.21 |
Comoros | KMF (franc) | 4.42 | INR 0.23 |
Armenia | AMD (dram) | 3.82 | INR 0.26 |
Sri Lanka | LKR (rupee) | 3.44 | INR 0.29 |
Hungary | HUF (forint) | 3.24 | INR 0.31 |
Pakistan | PKR (rupee) | 2.91 | INR 0.34 |
Djibouti | DJF (franc) | 1.86 | INR 0.54 |
Japan | JPY (yen) | 1.668 | INR 0.60 |
Nepal | NPR (rupee) | 1.60 (pegged) | INR 0.625 |
Algeria | DZD (dinar) | 1.39 | INR 0.72 |
Kenya | KES (shilling) | 1.355 | INR 0.74 |
Bangladesh | BDT (taka) | 1.29 | INR 0.78 |
Iceland | ISK (krona) | 1.265 | INR 0.79 |
Rates that could not be verified to a single reliable figure are deliberately absent. Myanmar, Malawi and Iran are the notable omissions: each runs an official rate its parallel or free market does not match, so any figure here would mislead. Sierra Leone is handled separately below.
A stronger rupee does not mean a cheaper holiday
The size of a currency unit is a historical accident, not a measure of how expensive a country is to visit.
One rupee buys 1.67 Japanese yen, and a week in Tokyo still costs roughly two and a half times a week in India. One rupee buys 1.265 Icelandic kronur, and Iceland is among the most expensive countries on earth. Any list filing Japan, South Korea and Iceland under “where the rupee is strong” without saying so is selling a story, not a fact.
The useful split is three ways: nominally stronger and genuinely cheap, nominally stronger but expensive anyway, and nominally weaker while your money still stretches.
Nominally stronger and genuinely cheap
These countries pass both tests, and they are the ones worth planning a trip around.
Cost-of-living index is the a third-party source 2026 mid-year edition, on which India scores 18.1. It is crowd-sourced, so read the column as direction, not a precise multiple.
Country | 1 INR buys | Cost-of-living index | Versus India |
Nepal | 1.60 NPR | 21.9 | 1.21x |
Indonesia | 186 IDR | 24.7 | 1.36x |
Vietnam | 273 VND | 26.9 | 1.49x |
Uzbekistan | 123.8 UZS | 28.6 | 1.58x |
Sri Lanka | 3.44 LKR | 31.3 | 1.73x |
Paraguay | 62.8 PYG | 32.0 | 1.77x |
Kazakhstan | 4.81 KZT | 32.7 | 1.81x |
Mongolia | 38.1 MNT | 34.5 | 1.91x |
Cambodia | 42.3 KHR | 35.1 | 1.94x |
Colombia | 32.4 COP | 35.6 | 1.97x |
The defensible headline five for an Indian traveller are Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Uzbekistan, because they pair a low index with a short flight and a cheap or free visa. Paraguay and Colombia are cheap on the ground and expensive to reach, which is the trade the index cannot show you.
Nominally stronger and expensive anyway
These are the countries most lists get wrong, and the reason a currency table needs a cost column.
Country | 1 INR buys | Cost-of-living index | Versus India |
Iceland | 1.265 ISK | 97.6 | 5.39x |
Costa Rica | 4.76 CRC | 56.8 | 3.14x |
South Korea | 14.5 KRW | 56.7 | 3.13x |
Hungary | 3.24 HUF | 49.8 | 2.75x |
Japan | 1.668 JPY | 47.6 | 2.63x |
Argentina | 15.86 ARS | 44.9 | 2.48x |
Chile | 9.57 CLP | 38.7 | 2.14x |
Iceland is the clearest case: the rupee is nominally stronger than the krona, and a day there costs more than five times a day in India.
Nominally weaker, and your money still stretches
A rupee buys less than one unit of these currencies, and the trips are still cheap. Leaving them off a rupee page is how such a page becomes useless.
Country | 1 INR buys | 1 local unit | Cost of living versus India |
Egypt | 0.5262 EGP | INR 1.90 | 1.19x (index 21.5) |
Georgia | 0.02734 GEL | INR 36.6 | 1.93x (index 34.9) |
Turkey | 0.5041 TRY | INR 1.98 | 2.22x (index 40.2) |
Thailand | 0.3437 THB | INR 2.91 | not indexed in this pass |
Morocco | 0.0970 MAD | INR 10.31 | not indexed in this pass |
Bolivia | 0.1207 BOB | INR 8.29 | not indexed in this pass |
Egypt is the strongest entry here. Its cost-of-living index is the only one in the set within 20% of India’s, so an India-priced budget genuinely stretches there even though one rupee buys only half an Egyptian pound.
Booking a trip where the rupee goes far? A cheap destination is where a medical bill hurts most, because the flight home is the expensive part. International travel insurance is a small line on a low-cost trip and the one that changes the arithmetic when something goes wrong.
The two special cases: Nepal and Bhutan
In both countries the rupee is not just stronger, it is partly the local currency.
Nepal. The Nepali rupee is pegged at 1 INR = 1.60 NPR, so NPR 100 costs INR 62.50 and the rate does not move. The rule on carrying Indian notes changed on 24 July 2026, and most pages have not caught up. Nepal Rastra Bank now permits Indian and Nepali citizens to carry INR 200 and INR 500 notes into and out of Nepal, up to a combined INR 25,000 per person, lifting a ban in place since January 2019. The notes must be issues dated on or after 9 November 2016; pre-2016 INR 500 and INR 1,000 notes remain banned, and INR 2,000 notes are not covered. Nepali citizens may not bring Indian currency in from a third country.
Bhutan. The ngultrum has been pegged 1:1 to the rupee since 1974, so INR 1 = BTN 1 exactly, and Indian notes circulate alongside it. INR 50, 100 and 500 notes are routinely accepted, though vendors apply this inconsistently, so carry small denominations. Bhutan also shows why a currency page needs a cost column: there is no visa fee for Indians, but a Sustainable Development Fee of INR 1,200 per person per night is INR 6,000 per person over five nights, before flights or a bed.
What a favourable rate is actually worth
The exchange rate is the smallest of the three numbers that decide what a trip costs. The fare and the daily spend are much larger.
Fare bands are shoulder-season economy return figures pulled on 2026-08-27, the fastest-moving numbers here. Daily on-ground is per person, excluding flights.
Destination | Return fare band, INR | Visa cost for an Indian passport | Daily on-ground, INR pp | 5-night total from the low end |
Nepal (Kathmandu) | DEL 11,200 to 13,500 | Zero, no visa at all | 1,600 to 6,400 | approx 19,200 |
Sri Lanka (Colombo) | MAA 15,600 to 20,000 | Zero, free pre-arrival ETA | 2,700 to 7,300 | approx 29,100 |
Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City) | DEL 22,700 to 33,500 | USD 25, approx INR 2,385 | 1,800 to 6,200 | approx 34,100 |
Uzbekistan (Tashkent) | DEL 23,800 to 36,300 | E-visa, fee not verified | 3,600 to 8,400 | approx 41,800 plus visa |
Indonesia (Bali) | DEL 31,600 to 37,600 | IDR 500,000, approx INR 2,690 | 1,900 to 7,100 | approx 43,800 |
Cambodia (Phnom Penh) | DEL from approx 35,130 | USD 30, approx INR 2,860 | 2,400 to 7,800 | approx 50,000 |
Egypt (Cairo) | DEL 33,900 to 45,600 | E-visa, fee not verified | 3,400 to 8,600 | approx 50,900 plus visa |
Georgia (Tbilisi) | DEL 32,700 to 37,800 | E-visa, or free with a Schengen, US, UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Korea, Ireland or GCC visa or permit | 5,200 to 11,000 | approx 58,700 plus visa |
One route fact that older cost pages get wrong: Uzbekistan lost its nonstop from Delhi when IndiGo stopped overflying Iran in January 2026, and as at August 2026 had not returned to Tashkent, which is why that fare band sits where it does. Cairo is served from India by EgyptAir only.
For the cheap end generally, see the cheapest countries to visit from India. For the subset you can enter without a visa, start from visa-free countries for Indians and its budget cut, the cheapest visa-free countries for Indians .
The countries wrongly listed elsewhere
These appear on almost every “rupee is stronger” list and do not belong on one. The rupee is worth less than one unit of each.
Country | Currency | 1 INR buys | 1 local unit costs |
Cape Verde | CVE (escudo) | 0.9932 | INR 1.007 |
Kyrgyzstan | KGS (som) | 0.916 | INR 1.09 |
Philippines | PHP (peso) | 0.646 | INR 1.55 |
Egypt | EGP (pound) | 0.526 | INR 1.90 |
Zambia | ZMW (kwacha) | 0.1995 | INR 5.01 |
Malaysia | MYR (ringgit) | 0.0422 | INR 23.7 |
Sierra Leone is the one to watch. Lists routinely claim one rupee buys around 250 leones. That was true of the old leone (SLL), redenominated in 2022 at 1,000 old to 1 new and no longer legal tender since 2023. Under the live currency one leone is worth roughly INR 4, so the rupee is far weaker, not stronger. Several rate feeds still carry the dead SLL line, which is where the claim comes from.
Frequently asked questions
Which country’s currency is weakest against the Indian rupee? Of the currencies verified for this page on 2026-08-27, the Vietnamese dong is the weakest per unit: one rupee buys about 273 dong. The Lao kip is next at roughly 233 to 236, followed by the Indonesian rupiah at 186 and the Uzbek som at 123.8.
Does a stronger rupee make a country cheap? No. The size of a currency unit is a historical accident. One rupee buys 1.67 Japanese yen and 1.265 Icelandic kronur, and both countries are far more expensive than India. Compare the cost of living and the airfare, not the exchange rate alone.
Where does the Indian rupee go furthest for a holiday? On the combined test of exchange rate, cost of living, airfare and visa cost, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Uzbekistan are the strongest picks for an Indian traveller. Nepal is the cheapest of all, at roughly INR 19,200 for five nights from Delhi at the low end, because there is no visa and no fare premium.
Can I carry Indian rupee notes to Nepal? Yes, within limits. Since 24 July 2026 Nepal Rastra Bank permits Indian and Nepali citizens to carry INR 200 and INR 500 notes into and out of Nepal, up to a combined INR 25,000 per person. The notes must be issues dated on or after 9 November 2016. Pre-2016 INR 500 and INR 1,000 notes remain banned, and INR 2,000 notes are not covered.
Is the Bhutanese ngultrum the same as the Indian rupee? Not the same currency, but pegged 1:1 since 1974, so INR 1 equals BTN 1 exactly. Indian rupee notes circulate in Bhutan alongside the ngultrum, though individual vendors apply acceptance inconsistently. Budget separately for the Sustainable Development Fee of INR 1,200 per person per night.
Why is Sierra Leone not on this list? Because the widely repeated rate is for a currency that no longer exists. Sierra Leone redenominated in 2022 and the old leone ceased to be legal tender in 2023. Under the current leone, one unit is worth about INR 4, so the rupee is weaker, not stronger.
