The India Tipping Guide & Calculator tells you how much to tip across the situations travellers and locals actually face — restaurants, hotels, salons, delivery and taxis — using the customs that apply in India rather than a single global percentage. Tipping here is modest and highly venue-dependent: generous at a fine-dining restaurant, a flat per-bag amount for a porter, and simply unnecessary at a dhaba or in a taxi. This tool encodes those distinctions so you neither overpay nor under-tip.
How it works
Each service type carries its own rule. Restaurant and salon venues use a percentage of the
bill — typically 5–10% for upscale dining and around 5% for casual places. Hotel staff and
delivery use flat per-unit amounts instead, because that is how Indian tipping conventions
work: roughly ₹20–50 per bag for a porter, ₹50–100 per night for housekeeping, and
₹20–50 per order for delivery. Taxis and dhabas return “not expected”, reflecting the norm of
a small round-up at most.
For percentage venues the calculator shows the suggested tip range, the total bill with tip, and an optional per-person split so a group can divide the total fairly.
Tips and etiquette
- Watch for a service charge already on a restaurant bill — when it is present, an extra tip is optional, and the charge itself is not legally mandatory.
- Hotel tips are handed directly to the person and are flat amounts, not a share of the room rate.
- Carry small notes (₹10, ₹20, ₹50). Many tipping situations in India are cash and exact change makes a round-up easy.
Every figure is computed in your browser — nothing about your bill or trip is sent anywhere.