Currency Converter (Live Rates)
Convert between USD, INR, EUR, GBP, JPY and 15 more major currencies with live exchange rates.
Written by Anil Gautam · Updated
How does the currency converter calculate the result?
When you choose a source currency, the page asks the site's server for that currency's rate table. Only the three-letter code, such as USD, goes into the request. Your amount stays in the browser, where it is multiplied by the rate for the target currency. The result box rounds to two decimals, and the line beneath it gives the rate to four decimals with the date of the rate table. Pressing the swap button reverses the pair and loads the table for the new source currency.
With an example rate of 1 USD = 88.0000 INR (the live line shows the real figure), 250 USD converts to 22000.00 INR. The list of other currencies follows your browser's number format, so on an English (India) browser 10,000 USD appears in the INR row as 8,80,000.00, which is 8.8 lakh rupees, while the main box shows 880000.00. To write that amount in words for a cheque or invoice, use the Number to Words Converter, which handles lakh and crore.
How do I work out a bank or card markup?
Compare the rate you are offered with the reference rate shown here. The markup in percent is the gap between the two rates, divided by the reference rate, times 100. With a reference of 88.00 and a bank offer of 86.68 rupees per dollar, the gap is 1.32 and the markup is 1.5 percent. On 1,000 dollars you would receive ₹86,680 instead of ₹88,000, a difference of ₹1,320, before any fixed fee the bank charges separately.
The same formula works when you buy currency. If a money changer asks ₹89.32 for a dollar against a reference of 88.00, the gap is 1.32 once more, and the markup is the same 1.5 percent.
Why does my own calculation come out slightly different?
The rate line is rounded to four decimals, while the result uses the full rate, so the two can disagree when the rate is small. At an example rate of 0.0113636 dollars per rupee, the line reads 1 INR = 0.0114 USD and 1,00,000 INR converts to 1136.36 USD. Multiplying by the rounded 0.0114 by hand gives 1140.00, which is 3.64 dollars too high. For a manual check, use the larger rate in the opposite direction: 1 ÷ 0.0113636 is about 88.00 rupees per dollar, and 1,00,000 ÷ 88 = 1136.36.
The dropdowns hold 20 currencies, and there is no date picker, so historical rates are not available. If the rate service cannot be reached, a red error message appears under the converter. Any figures still on screen then come from the last table that loaded, which may belong to the previous source currency, so reload the page before relying on them.