Before you start

PAN, or a filed Form 49AA application
Passport with a valid long-term visa and the e-FRRO registration certificate
Proof of a Kolkata address
An Indian mobile number, which UPI depends on

Step-by-step

1
File Form 49AA for PAN before approaching a bank
Foreign nationals cannot use the free Aadhaar-based instant e-PAN. Form 49AA through Protean or UTIITSL uses the passport as identity proof, and the e-PAN PDF arrives before the physical card.
OnlineWho: YouWeek 1
2
Ask explicitly for a RESIDENT savings account
Employment in India generally makes you a person resident in India under FEMA from arrival, which means an ordinary resident savings account. NRE and NRO products carry repatriation and tax rules that do not fit an employed resident.
In personWho: You
3
Choose a branch used to foreign nationals
The large private bank branches around Park Street, Camac Street, Salt Lake Sector V and New Town handle foreign KYC regularly. A north Kolkata neighbourhood branch may not have opened an account on a foreign passport in a long time.
In personWho: You
4
Complete KYC in person with originals
Passport, visa, FRRO registration, PAN, address proof and photographs. Address verification sometimes involves a physical visit. Expect days rather than minutes.
In personWho: You
5
Set up UPI as soon as the account is live
Link the account in Google Pay, PhonePe or Paytm using the Indian mobile number registered with the bank. UPI works at the tea stall, the metro counter and the fish market alike, and it is the single biggest quality-of-life step of your first month.
Mobile appWho: YouWeek 2
6
Understand outward remittance before you need it
India operates capital controls. Sending salary or savings abroad requires documentation on source of funds and tax paid. Ask your bank how it works while nothing is urgent.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

PAN card or e-PAN
Passport with valid visa
e-FRRO registration certificate
Proof of Kolkata address
Passport photographs and completed KYC forms

Things most newcomers don’t know

Kolkata is the cheapest of India's large metros, and the gap is bigger than the salary gap.

Rents here run well below Mumbai, Delhi or Bengaluru for equivalent central space, groceries and eating out are cheaper, and metro fares are the lowest of any Indian metro system. Salaries are lower too, but not proportionally — for a foreign professional on an international or head-office pay scale, the disposable income differential against Mumbai is very large. This is the principal financial argument for the city and it is rarely made explicitly.

Source: community-reported

FEMA residence, tax residence and immigration status are three different tests that disagree.

Your visa says what you may do; the Income Tax Act counts days in an April-to-March year; FEMA asks whether you came to India to take up employment or to stay indefinitely. You can be a tax non-resident and a FEMA resident in the same week. The bank cares only about the FEMA answer, so get the classification confirmed in writing at account opening.

Source: Reserve Bank of India — FEMA

The minimum average balance penalty is the fee nobody mentions at opening.

Most Indian savings accounts require an average monthly balance and charge a penalty when you dip below it, disclosed in the schedule of charges rather than in conversation. Kolkata branches are classified as metro, so the thresholds are at the higher end. Ask what yours is, and ask whether a salary account waives it — many do.

Source: Reserve Bank of India — customer service

Cash still matters more in the old city than the UPI statistics suggest.

UPI adoption in Kolkata is high, but north and central Kolkata's older trade — the flower market under Howrah Bridge, parts of Burrabazar, the Sunday Chinatown breakfast market — still runs on cash and small notes at dawn. These are precisely the places worth going to. Carrying a few hundred rupees in small denominations is a practical habit here in a way it is decreasing elsewhere in urban India.

Source: community-reported